Range Ammo Case

B

bronicadave

New member
When shooting my revolver at the range it occurred to me that there should be a quicker way to load. (My range has a half hour rate, I want to shoot for a half hour and not be reloading.) I came up with this case to hold ammo for picking up with a speedloader. The case is a cheap plastic case ($6.50 at Sportsman Warehouse). The trays were made from .080 inch thick styrene from the hobby store. The two sheets were spaced using styrene shapes and held off the bottom of the case the same way. The bottom of the case has a 1/8 inch thick foam mat, the top of the case has the foam that came in the case. The layout holds 18 relaods and there is a cutout to hold the speedloader. It's very quick to populate the tray at home, carry to the range and load the revolver quicklly.

After I made this I wondered if there was any commercial device to serve this purpose. Is there a market for something like this? Would any of you be interested? I have been involved in manufacturing engineering in the past and could have these made in large quantity. If the market is in the dozens I can turn them out in the basement. This one is sized for .38/.357 rounds and the HKS 586 speedloader which works with the S&W 686, Ruger GP100 and others.

I am not ready to take orders, just probing for interest. If anyone wants the template to drill all the holes I'll be glad to send it to you.

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Wow, personally I think that's a really neat idea!

My biggest problem at the range though is that I use up all my ammo too fast :p

I'd buy one to use when working up loads... keep different charges and bullets nice and organized.
 
What would this be worth to shooters? If I have a large production run made we could probably get costs down to where a sell price of $25 or less would be possible. If I hand make them one at a time I would have to sell for much more. If there's only the one buyer, well...
 
I would check with the Patent office and maybe get a patent for it... this way even if you cannot afford to mass produce them some other larger plastics company can... like Plano? This way if you hold the patent you can sell them the 'rights' to create this product.

Patents do cost money. I would suspect something like this going for about $12-$20... could get more if you include speed loaders of choice. The only issue is bullet size. Having multiple, different revolver loadings and keeping them available. Also if you have longer shells like some people may have will the case still fit, and close properly?

Neat idea though
 
Thjis particular case holds the .357 magnum with room to spare. I'd have to check the total length of longer cartridges but I think .44 magnums would fit, don't know about some of the other rounds. The layout would have to change to match each cylinder/speed loader size. Could do 5, 6, 7 or 8 rounds in any caliber and cylinder size with a different insert. It always becomes cost/volume issues. I couldn't possibly sell them for less than $20 unless I could be sure of a market in the thousands. To sell that many would mean getting it sold through distribution channels which takes a substantial amount of the available margin. Selling them myself through classifieds in the gun magazines or on-line sources probably means a much smaller market. Oh well, I'm not quitting my day job anytime soon. If anybody wants my CAD drawings for the inserts let me know.
 
For my pre-loaded full moon clips, I use two Plano tackle boxes. IIRC... #3600. Each one holds 6 rows of 4 clips each. Both will just fit into my MPI mini-range bag.

Very efficent way to shoot almost 300 rounds in just under an hour range time.

Joe
 
I agree with the patent idea. Do it fast. You never know who is lurking here and will steal that 'neat' piece of workmanship. Good luck. DO IT!
 
The first rule of fight club is...don't talk about your patent.



Never publicly disclose your unpatented invention before you've filed with the USPTO. You may have already jeopardized its patentability, but at the very least the clock is ticking. If you're serious about getting a patent, shut-up about it, don't give anyone plans (except your attorney), delete this thread, and get to a patent attorney ASAP.
 
A patent? I don't think so. Nobody here has even committed to buying one if I manufacture them and you guys think I should spend money on a patent? From what I know about patents they aren't worth anymore than you are willing to spend to defend them. A few minor changes, injection molding instead of fabricated from sheet stock for instance, and someone could claim to have not violated my patent. It would then be up to me to prove, with the help of a several hundred dollar an hour intellectual property law practice, that they had violated my patent. If I win the case I might collect a few cents on each one they had sold assuming that the legal battle had not put the company, formed specifically as the licensee for this product, into bankruptcy. No, I won't waste time on patents.
 
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A> Cool Idea, I'd sure pay $25 for one!
B> Patent that dude, fast! The cat is out of the bag and the clock is ticking!
C> You'd better patent what you have, unless you want somebody else to patent it at which time you'd have to pay them royalties for your invention. It isn't so much to corner the market as much as it is about not being pushed out of the market.
 
Well, I guess that counts out getting a patent.

I did notice that they only had them listed for S&W K frame and N frame. I see that your sample was for an L frame, which is what I'd be interested in. I'd still cough up the $25 for something that actually worked with what I have.
 
patent apps are $30 straight up along with the paperwork
although it seems someone beat ya to the punch.
Personally im working on something that does the same action, but uses a different mechanism.
Don't worry, not gonna give any details online.
I just need to find someone with the cash to help w/development costs. Basically my idea involves the same approach, but uses a smaller amount of space, and takes less time to fill :)
 
Well that establishes the price point. The system linked uses individual blocks which are probably injection molded. You screw the blocks together and to a base in your own case. $5.94 per block. The one in the picture shows 10 blocks, that's $59.40 and you have to supply your own case, another $5-8, and you put it all together. I wonder how many of these are sold each year? As far as compatible revolvers I could make them for just about anything. It's just a matter of drilling the correct hole size in the right pattern. I'll do some more research on this whole idea. Thanks for all your input.
 
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