Moon clip questions

Status
Not open for further replies.
N

natedog

Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2002
Messages
2,634
Location
Bakersfield, California
I understand that moon clips are something like a removable extractor star that can be used to unload and reload a revolver very quickly. I've noticed that they are generally only used with revolvers firing autopistol cartridges. Is it possilbe to use moon clips with rimmed rounds like the .357 Magnum?Does S&W, Ruger, Taurus, or Dan Wesson make a revolver that uses such?
 
I'm not sure about the other makers, but S&W makes the 627, an 8 shot .357, that can be used with or with out full moon clips.

You many want to check out www.moonclips.com A conversion can be done to most current 6 shot .357 revolvers, which will allow them to be shot with clips.

Joe
 
Natedog, relax. Moonclips are the best thing since sliced bread. My freind Tom over at TKCustoms can take any cylinder you got and machine it to take moonclips , or speedload or individual load, or any/all of the above. The advantages of moonclips is it keeps all yer brass together, so you don't have to be looking all around the place for it; It's arguably twice as fast as any other means of reloading a revolver; It's just plain cool. Disadvantages, I haven't found any.
 
but S&W makes the 627, an 8 shot .357, that can be used with or with out full moon clips.
Click to expand...

I was thinking, hoping, praying that such a thing existed! :D

To me, that remedies the revolvers main disadvantage: capacity and reload speed.

How does a reload with a moon clip compare to a reload with a magazine and autoloader?
 
Using moonclips with revolver rounds can be a little more involved than with pistol rounds, though, because the depth and location of the groove ahead of the case rim is more variable, since it doesn't serve any important function in a revolver, which extracts (and headspaces) on the case rim.
 
I was thinking about getting my 686 machined to take moonclips, because I think they are so darn cool.

I was warned though, not that it couldn't be done, but that since the .357's are long and thin, very often with a flat top, they can be hard to "throw" into the cylinder as fast as a shorter fatter auto cartridge with a round nose.

Though I have no experience with either, it made sense when I heard that. Especially that when I am reloading using my Comp II's using semi wadcutters or hollowpoints, jacketed softpoints, etc. I sometimes have trouble hitting the cylinder holes dead on. Sometimes I hit the dividers, and have to turn it a little bit to get it to slide in.

I'm sure with practice this can be remedied. Just something I have noticed.
 
I assume they exist, but I am having a hard time finding a .357 with a round nose...:confused:

I found plenty of .38 specials with round noses though...
 
"...finding a .357 with a round nose..." That's because the RN bullet was made eons ago for use in the .38 Spec. Nobody wants RN in a .357. You can handload 'em, but you lose a lot using them in a .357.
Full moon and half moon clips are for shooting rimless ammo in a revolver chambered in a rimmed cased calibre. A la .45 ACP in a revolver made for .45 Colt. Speed loaders are used for rimmed cases. There's really no point in using moon clips for a rimmed case. The firearms designed for use with a rimmed case don't have a space for a moon clip.
 
Right, Sunray. That's what I thought. I was curious then, about what Jim Watson is saying about using roundnose bullets, when speedloading counts, in response to my post about getting my 686 machined for moonclip use.

Using roundnose would help the speedloaders, but I don't understand his recommendation for using them, when they don't seem to exist.

I guess you could always use .38's.

---------------------
Also, unrelatedly, why do you lose when you use roundnoses in a .357?
 
Yes, Moon clips can be added to most Revolvers. These converted revolvers in most situations can then shoot with or without moon clips.

I shoot a factory 625 PC in .45 acp and a 627 .357 8 shoot. It is faster to load the 625 due to only 6 short rounds on a full moon clip. The 627 can be made faster to load is you pay attention to the tightness of the lands where the moon clips slip into. There are manufactures that make different thickness moon clips in steel and plastic that will fill the space and make the rounds more rigid and easier to load. Keep in mind that each type of brass has its own spacing in the area were the moon clip rides.

As for the Round nose bullets, I have no problem finding them in either plated or lead. Lead round nose Flat points are vary popular in cowboy action shooting. The flat point is about the size of a primer, to pevent chain fire in a lever rifle.
 
Last edited:
The firearms designed for use with a rimmed case don't have a space for a moon clip.
Click to expand...
Not in it's stock configuration, but the modification is to machine the cylinder and the extractor star to accept them. Then the revolver can be shot with or without the moonclips.
The one downside to moonclips is if they get bent. They may not allow the cylinder to close or rotate properly.
 
Plinkerton. Hi. there are lots of RN cast bullets meant to be used in a .38 Spec. Same bullet diameter. You'd have to load 'em though. Mind you, a semi-wadcutter bullet works just a well with a speed loader.
 
Thanks Sunray. I found a bunch of .38 RN's. I don't reload though. Either way, I was just curious.

One other thing, why would using a round nose for a .357 not be as good? You lose velocity or something?
 
The Moon Clip became more wide known due to the S&W and Colt Model 1917 revolvers chambered in .45acp. The military wanted shoot the 45acp out of both a revolver and 1911. The name was due to the first clips begining shaped in the form of a crescent moon. Each of these original clips would hold 3 rounds, 2 three packs to each revolver when fully loaded. Now we have full moon clips....
 
From JOHN TAFFIN.

In 1916 it was obvious to all but the most naive that the United States would soon be at war. Smith & Wesson, in conjunction with Springfield Armory, began working on a .45 caliber revolver that would fire the government handgun cartridge, the rimless .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol). Once the United States entered World War I, the doughboys would need sidearms and it would be impossible to provide enough Government Model Colt 1911 semi-automatics to supply the demand.

Smith & Wesson was able to adapt their Second Model Hand Ejector, normally chambered in .44 Special, .45 Colt, .38-40, and .44-40, to fire the rimless .45 ACP by the ingenious use of half-moon clips that each held three rounds. This not only allowed the revolver designed for rimmed cartridges to fire rimless cartridges, it also allowed for much faster reloading provided, of course, that the clips were loaded beforehand.

More than 150,000 S&W .45 ACP revolvers were issued to the troops during the War To End All Wars. As the war ended and Smith & Wesson went back into peacetime production, the 1917 .45 donned civvies in the form of a bright blue finish and checkered grips and was offered to the shooting public as a commercial model.

http://www.sixguns.com/range/sw6252.htm
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

M
  • Locked
45 auto rim in moon clips????
Replies
10
Views
1K
Jim K
J
B
  • Locked
Moon phase, black magic, and moon clips
Replies
18
Views
2K
Brian Williams
Brian Williams
C
  • Locked
Moon Clips
Replies
5
Views
492
WC145
WC145
R
  • Locked
Moon Clips, etc.
Replies
17
Views
1K
w1mnk
W
D
  • Locked
moon clips?
Replies
13
Views
928
samurai
S
Back
Top