What doors do moonclips open and....

If folks don't like to use moon clips, that's fine.

I really enjoy my S&W 22-4 with moon clips. It is so much fun to use, and I wouldn't feel outgunned with one either. Reloads are comparatively fast, and more consistent than those I've tried with a Model 19 and speed loaders.

Best of all, one isn't doing the "pickin' chicken" searching for his empties at the end of the day. They all stay clumped together in a decent sized mass allowing for easy pick up.

Down side is the loading and unloading of the moon clips, but a good tool will help with that.
 
The full moon clip is very useful when many full cylinders are going to be fired like in a stage of a match. A proper moon clip tool has always made handling brass afterward much easier for me.
I go to a match with a days worth+ of loaded moon clips and deal with demooning them at home. I have both speed loader fed and moon clip revolvers that I use at matches and I find it much easier to work with the moon clips than to be loading speed loaders in the loading block at the match.
Of course brass recovery is easier with the clips.
With speed loaders you have to get your loaders back and the loose brass. Moon clips are just 1 neat package to find.
If a person is plinking or hunting then speed loaders and moon clips change things a bit in that you have to change out a complete cylinder rather than just the rounds you fired.
 
That's a mighty narrow definition of "sport shooter", Bob. Many a sport shooter compete in IDPA/USPSA/ICORE, and they're not "paramilitary gunfighters" any more than you are.
Click to expand...

They're about as much a sport shooter as the National Guardsmen who practice their "sport" at National Guard camp. It's combat shooting, pure and simple.

Bob Wright
 
I disagree with Bob, but for a different reason. IMHO, those gun games have as much relation to combat as pedal cars do to the Daytona 500. They are sports, pure and simple, and fun. Of course they help the competitor become proficient in the use of a gun, the same as Bob's bullseye pistol does. But they have about the same relationship to combat.

Jim
 
bob wright said:
For us who are sport shooters, revolvers such as the Single Action and double action where single fired rounds may be ejected and fresh live rounds loaded is perfectly adequate.
Click to expand...

That's not sport shooting, that's sniper practice just like the National Guard snipers on the weekends. No such thing as "sport shooting" with a handgun, REAL sport shooting requires a shotgun and clay birds. ;)
 
Didn't see it mentioned above, but in the S&W 610 I once owned, the full moon clips worked great for quickly ejecting and then reloading either 10mm or .40S&W cartridges.

My 610 wheelie was basically just a range gun for targets and, occasionally, knocking down bowling pins.
 
Moonclips aren't really any more difficult to load and unload than a regular pistol magazine. I've found that mooning can easily be done by hand and demooning can be done with needle nosed pliers or even just a screw driver.

Then again, loading AK, AR, and semi-auto mags by hand doesn't bother me either. You just get used to it after firing 100's of rounds.

Since moonclips cost $4 each, and magazines for semi-autos are usually $20 on up, it is very easy to have many more moonclips than semi-auto magazines. So, for $80 you can get a good 20 moonclips and you are pretty much good to go. I am not particularly careful with mine, and I've never bent one... though Venom1956 did bend one of mine, heh. So out of 12 moonclips (I have 10 unused ones, too) and some 600+ rounds through my 986 only one has been bent. I believe it was from using aluminum case 9mm as an AL case was stuck on ejection which caused one side of the clip to stick. It still ejected.

It is very easy to tell if you have a problem with a particular moonclip: you can just put it on a flat surface to see if it is bent. However, semi-auto magazines are significantly more complicated and difficult to troubleshoot and more things can go wrong with them. A semi-auto magazine can become dirty internally, requiring disassembly. All you have to do to clean a moonclip is wash or wipe it. A semi-auto magazine can have a failure in the spring or have a stuck follower. Feed lips can become bent. Floor plates can bend or drop out. The only thing that can happen to a moonclip is bending, which is over stressed by detractors. Nobody says (except for the same revolver traditionalists that bash semi-autos and moonclips), "I won't use a magazine fed X, Y, or Z because magazines are a failure point," because modern, high-quality magazines work well enough.

I have more moonclips, because of the reduced price of them, than magazines for any other semi-auto handgun that I own. Since both magazines and moonclips are fairly disposable (yes, repair mine though), that some of my moonclips become unusable is no different than replacing a worn detachable magazine.

I did find out that my 986 doesn't headspace 9mm properly without them, but this does not bother me anymore than any of my semi-auto pistols that are mostly useless without a functioning magazine.
 
Here is the custom shop that supplies S&W with moon clips. They also do moonclip conversions to cylinders. I know the OP probably can't send those parts abroad, but it is interesting to know what guns TK can do moonclip conversions for: http://www.tkcustom.com/
 
Personally, I don't see moonclips as just a just-for-gamers thing. If you see the need to carry speedloaders, even extra bullets, or extra magazines, moonclips serve the same purpose. If you don't feel the need to have extra bullets, then moonclips won't appeal to you either.

Finally, they are A LOT of fun. They are easy to load and unload. There's not much as satisfying as bringing 11 loaded moonclips to the range.

Oh, and they are great for saving brass. It is easier (in my opinion) to have your brass clipped together in a neat package than to just fall out loosely. Not that traditional revolvers are much worse or anything. I just like the compact package of clipped brass.

Also, vs. speed loaders, they are lighter and smaller, so you can carry more of them with less weight and space. Heck the only thing lighter or smaller than moonclipped brass would be lose brass.
 


This is the only gun I have that could take moon clips. Unfortunately, I have yet to find any that will work with it. Every full moon clip I have tried has been too thick.

The gun works excellently with HALF MOON clips (S&W). It even works with the two round clips I found (no idea whose, or the proper name 1/4moon clips??)

but none of the full moon clips I have found will work, gun will close, but cylinder is jammed tight, cannot rotate.

(sorry no pic of the half moons, the rounds in the pic are .455 Webley, no clip needed for them)

Full moon clips get you two things over speedloaders. The first is height. Top to bottom, the loaded clip is shorter than the loaded speedloader. An inch, maybe an inch and a half, depending on the speedloader design.

You do NOT get a significant reduction in DIAMETER. SO, not quite as tall, but just as bulky around.

The other advantage over a speedloader is the clip goes in the gun. There is no twist or pull, or push motion needed to release the rounds and no empty speedloader to drop or put back in your pocket. So, a tiny saving in time there.

The down side is that (particularly revolver rounds) are rather loosely held in the clip, and the clip itself is thin and easily bent.

Personally, for guns like my Webley or Colt, S&W 1917s that need them for using .45acp brass, I rather like half moon clips. They look neat, they work well, and because each is only 3 rnds, the "nest" together in a pocket or pouch giving a flatter package than the full moon clips or speedloaders.

The do take a little longer to recharge the gun, because you need two of them, but with a little practice it can be pretty smooth and quick.

I am not personally a fan of having a regular revolver cut for full moon clips, to use revolver ammo, I just don't see the point.
 
I am not sure I understand about moon clips and .455 in that Mk VI. If the cylinder has been cut for moon clips, it should take clipped .45 ACP or .45 Auto Rim OK* but the headspace would be way excessive for .455 with all sorts of problems. If the cylinder is uncut, it will work OK with .455, but .45 AR won't fit and .45 ACP will have problems, mainly not extracting fired cases.

Jim

*Use of factory .45 ACP or Auto Rim in any .455 revolver, even the Mk VI, is NOT recommended. The .45 ACP runs twice the operating pressure of the .455 and has been known to blow out cylinders of the .455 guns.

JK
 
My .357/.38 spec Rhino can take moon clips or regular loading. The moon clips are thin and do not rigidly hold the rounds. They flop a bit. It's great for a quick unload when you come home and great for a kinda quick load before you walk out the door. Not good for a panic situation in the middle of a gunfight.
 
My Webley Mk VI 1917 date

Jim, don't worry, I understand completely about the pressure limits of the Webley and .45ACP/AR ammo. GI ball ammo is proof load pressure for the .455 Webley. ALL I shoot is handloads at Webley friendly pressures in .45ACP CASES. NO .45acp factory ammo goes in that gun.

My gun is a bit of a special case. It has been shaved for ACP brass in half moon clips. BUT it is shaved LESS than any other Webley I have ever seen. Usually the entire bottom line of the numbers on the cylinder are gone, (like the bottom of a 3, 5, 6, etc) but on my gun only the very bottom edge of the line is gone (the bottom curve of the number is there, just a small flat spot at the very bottom). Either the machinist who did it goofed or was trying very hard to do just barely enough.

.45Auto Rim brass will not work in MY Webley. The rims are too thick. I know, I tried. got two boxes of brass, and loaded one, before I thought to check the cases in the gun. Someday, I'll either pull down, or trade that box.;)

AR cases fit in the gun, and you can close it, but they bind on the recoil shield, and you cannot turn the cylinder.

Technically, my gun is out of spec, both ways. It will only work with thin 1/2 moon clips, does not work with the thicker full moon clips, does not work with AR cases. It WILL fire .455 ammo, but the headspace is excessive.

The .455 cases in the pic are the only ones I ever tried (when I finally got a single 20rnd box of .455ammo (hornady). Six rounds, five fired, one did not, And while you can't see it, a couple of the fired cases had barely pierced primers. I had a thought that I could shorten some Schoefield brass and use it, but I would have to come up with a die to load it, and somehow, I never seem to get around to doing either...:o

Don't be confused, my Webley is an oddball, neither fish, nor fowl, nor good red meat. But it is NEAT, and a lot of fun. SA trigger is heavy, but otherwise fair. DA is...well I've bent rebar that was easier, or so it seems.

Sometimes it comes out and we watch Zulu, or Alan Quartermaine over a pint, or these days a cuppa...:D

Any idea where I can get a lanyard ring for it??
 
If I were a policeman I would carry an 8-shot S&W 627 with my reloads in moon clips. The deciding factor would be the ability to carry my reloads in a protected belt pouch.

As much as I like the idea of pocket carry of a 9mm J frame or LCR (for fast moon clip reloads) I still carry a 38 because there's really no way to keep the moon clips from getting bent in your pants pocket without having a belt carrier or some other sort of gizmo that defeats concealment...or at least if there is I haven't stumbled across it yet.
 
Well, mostly for CC, I'm talking about using a shoulder rig, but occasionally, I'd want more bullets with me (for walks where I will end up shooting/plinking), and I'd throw a couple of moonclip holsters on. I mean the one that a single moonclip holder seems pretty trim.
 
I am using the IDPA holders like darker loaf talked about. A pair of those not as or at lest no larger than a double speed loader pouch with the + of carrying them is 4 reloads not just 2. So far no trouble with printing, clips falling out, clips getting bent, hanging up on clothing, or uncomfortable to carry.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top