My personal experience with moon clips was with a s&w model 25-2 in .45acp about 10 yrs ago / and now with a pair of s&w model 627's in .357 mag.......moon clips for .45acp were a pain and time consuming to load 10 yrs ago, so I sold the 25-2 -- and while I did reload some .45 auto rim, i lost interest in the gun, in favor of other N frames in .44 mag and . 357 mag....
When I purchased the pair of performance center 627's earlier this yr ( a 2 5/8" and a 5" )...both 8 shot N frames in .357 mag .....the guns came with a set of moon clips--- and I think I ran each gun with about 40 Rds using the moon clips to speed reloads them, and all the aggravation of removing cases from the clips and reloading them without bending them came back to me......so I threw the moon clips away and bought a couple of 5 Star speed loaders - which meet my needs much better !
Moon clips are a great concept....but to me, they just were not worth it.
I have a buddy that used to shoot revolver competitions with a model 25 and moon clips....but a slightly bent moon clip jammed his gun and cost him a match.....and while he loves the gun, he now shoots .45 auto rim in it exclusively.....and I would not trust moon clips for any defensive gun.
I have seen a few Chiappa Rhino's at my local range and owners seemed to have trigger issues and firing pin or spring issues ( and maybe some moon clip issues )....but that range also had 2 of them in rental case and they had a lot of failures and got rid of them. I think their track record as a mfg is a little spotty...
Personally, I would suggest a revolver in .357 mag / .38 spl ...like in a K, L, or N frame S&W would be a much better investment...I will once in a while carry a model 19 or 66 in a 2 1/2" or a 4"......and I did carry the N frame 627 in 2 5/8" a month or so ago in a good IWB Horsehide holster.... and some extra rounds in a speed strip / but I feel fine with 6 ( or 8 Rds) in the gun.
I understand the noise discussion....but in the 1 in a gazillion chance you fire the gun for defense, without ear protection in .357 mag.....noise or some hearing issues would not be one of the first 100 concerns on my mind....../ I am very comfortable carrying my .357 mag revolvers with 158gr JHP's
Some of the old model 25's and I don't know which engineering revisions were made with head spacing that allowed you to fire a .45acp cartridge without the moon clips - but you would need a pencil with an eraser on it, or something, to punch the spent cases out of cylinder...but I know not all of the model 25's would fire without moon clips / I understand the new model 625's will fire without moon clips but extractor still only works with moon clips in .45acp....