Moonclips for .38 Special revolvers?

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45Badger

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Still trying to learn to love wheelguns.

I've got two S&W revolvers in .38 Special (Combat Masterpiece and a Model 36 J-frame). I think speed loaders and strips are a pain in the butt. Recently had a 625 pass through my collection. While it was "not the gun for me", I loved the moon clips.

Can I have my two .38s cut for moon clips? Are there .38 moonclips? If so, who does this? What does it cost?

Thanks!
 
Never heard of anyone doing this one.

I sure think my moon clip guns are a lot more of a "pain in the butt" than speedloaders, but to each his own......
 
Clark Custom Guns is one of several places that does moonclip conversions. You can send them your cylinder for $100 for a J-frame. They have my SP101 for some work including moonclip conversion. Check TKCustom for more info and other places that do the conversion.

Based on your sig you may prefer to use Wild West Guns, they do it too, for $80.
 
Yes, you can have it done.
It is not much help; I had two 686s cut up before I realized that the long skinny .38 and .357 were not helped much by the clips. The short stubby .45 is a whole different ball game.
 
I agree that the strips are a pain.

What make of speedloader have you tried?

I used HKS for years. They work OK, but are not perfect. After using Safariland loaders, my HKS loaders sit around gathering dust for the most part. The Safariland hold the rounds in better alignment, and are faster and simpler to use. They release the rounds automatically when used. The Comp 3 will even feed full wadcutters without struggling with them. Safariland loaders are not perfect, but they are head and shoulders above the HKS loaders in my opinion.
 
Malamute gives good advice.

Safariland comp II speedloaders are infinitely superior to HKS. Get 'em from Brownells.
 
I have 4 or 5 686's which have had the cylinders relieved for moonclips done by a small shop near Dallas for about $35 per gun and I haven't touched a speedloader since I had the first one done. If you are interested in getting them machined, check here for all the info you should need:moonclips . Hope that helps.


Chris
 
Mark is on Moonclips.com and I highly reccommend him to do a cylinder. He did a my second gun cylinder for me with my barrel swap.
revolver.php

Pinnacle High Performance
9630 Ponderosa ct
Kempton, PA 19529
Phone/Fax: (610) 285-4392
[email protected]
 
Do a THR search on speed loading. Ditto on Safari loaders being way cool. Coupled with good technic learned on the THR, I find speed loaders to be way quick.

I do remember other threads here to claim moons are the fastest, but I have never tried 'em yet.
 
Moonclips are fine for .38 spl. Those competitors in the International Revolver Championship who are not shooting a 625 are almost invariably shooting .38 spl with moonclips. Almost as hard to find speedloaders at the revolver matches as it is to find a Kimber or Glock there.

For more information on the desirability check with Jerry Miculek, Vic Picket, Rudy Waldinger or Jason Pettit. Jerry is perennial winning open class Grand Master, Vic and Rudy are the two that keep Jerry honest and Jason is stock class Grand Master.
 
I used HKS for years until a former LEO put me onto SafariLand Comp speedloaders. I dumped the HKSes into a box and have never looked back.

On moonclips with revolver cartridges, since there's no standard spec for the groove next to the rim, I would think you could run into trouble with some brands of brass -- for example, a groove that's too shallow in depth, or too wide?
 
since there's no standard spec for the groove next to the rim, I would think you could run into trouble with some brands of brass -- for example, a groove that's too shallow in depth, or too wide?
Click to expand...

Correct. WW and a couple of smaller makers have a groove that's too narrow to function well (they'll kind of work, most of the time, sort of). with clips. You learn to pay attention to headstamps.
 
The moonclip manufacturers specify which brass works best. Others will work, but the rounds may jiggle more or whatever. Sometimes the off brass functions in a way the individual prefers, too.

Federal, R-P and Starline are the more common at TK Custom with the 627 match grade being the only ones designed for Starline. I reload only with Starline for my 627 and the 686+ I had converted. My M66 is currently being converted Pinnacle High Performance and Federal and R-P are specified for that clip.

Different moonclip manufacturers use different thicknesses as well.
 
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I'm glad someone commented about the brass and moon clips. Someone mentioned above that they didn't like the way shells went into the gun(?) with moonclips, and the brass used has some bearing on how they work. If your serious about using moon clips, only use certain brass with them. You can still use all your other brass without clips, or in speedloaders. Bullet styles make a difference also. Round nose or a JHP that has a rounded profile work well with moonclips, swc may not be the best choice.

I like the idea of moonclips, but for my use, speedloaders are fine. I use swc loads as much as anything.
 
Chamfering the charge holes is also helpful whether using mooncllps or speedloaders--or individual rounds for that matter.

The .45 do really offer an advantage on reload speed as the charge holes are HUMONGOUS and it is hard to miss them. The 8-shot 627 and 7-shot 686+ also offer some advantage over 6-shot L-frames due to the lesser amount of web between charge holes on which to place the rounds.

I don't have any J-frames, so do not know how much web is between charge holes or how easy they load.

Round nose bullets are in fact the best bet for any high speed loading.
 
I own a moon-clipped .357 revolver (S&W 627). Capacity differences aside, I have to say the moon clips hold little to no advantage over the Safariland Comp-III speedloaders I use in my other .357s, with the possible exception of making it easier to keep track of brass.
 
I have Comp 1 loaders for my J and N frame Smiths, and Comp 2 and Comp 3's for my K frame gun. The Comp 2 and 3's are a bit nicer, but I like them all.
 
Unless you're into shooting games where every one thousandth of a second matters then I see no real benefit to moonclips for a rimmed cartridge.
I'm not even going to get into the tools vs no tools, partial reload, durability etc differences.


I think most of the people whining and grousing about speedloaders have just never taken the time to master them.

They are not a miracle device. You have to work with them. You have to develop a technique. You have to practice. You have to practice some more.
It takes time.
But once you have really learned how to use them you can reload extremely fast.


Personally I find the ability to load with speedloaders, speed strips and loose rounds to be enough options to giterdun.

I want all of the rim support I can get. I just don't like all of that missing metal in a moonclip converted cylinder.

But to each his own.
 
Meredith
The .45 do really offer an advantage on reload speed as the charge holes are HUMONGOUS and it is hard to miss them.

The 45 gap is supposed to be allasame as 45acp except length. I wonder if the GAP will work in 45 ACP revolvers with moon clips?? It would be shorter so it might load even easier. I think GAP uses small primers but a center primer hit is still in the center of the primer.

Anyone?
 
Yes .45GAP willwork with clips in a .45Auto Rim revolver. But the real question is not Will it work?, but rather Why would you want it to?

Don't forget that ALL current production .45GAP ammunition is loaded to .45acp+P pressures while only mimicing .45acp performance. And the increased pressures most likely will lead to accelerated wear.
So far, I haven't seen any .45GAP ammo that wasn't priced HIGHER than .45acp.

So since there is no savings and the possibility of increased wear, I see no logical reason to use .45GAP in a revolver.


It is my belief that if the gun is going to endure +P pressures it should at least achieve +P performance.



But that's just my opinion, and it's only worth a little more than twice what you paid for it.
 
I tend to agree with Blues Bear. When a cylinder is shortened to make space for the clips the extractor star is also thinned. A little won't hurt, but too much could. You do want to be sure the 'smith doing the work does know what he is doing.

While the adaptation seems to be a good one for certain kinds of competition, I don't see the need in general kinds of shooting, including CCW. If a microsecond difference in reloading is that important I'll go to an autoloader.

Another problem that is often overlooked is getting the left-hand grip relieved enough to make space for a speed loader with long (read that .357 Magnum) cartridges. I suspect that moonclips might have the same issue, but less so. Most of the revolver cartridges we have today are based on black-powder rounds with capacities to match. We need revolver fodder that is the same length as similar stuff used in autoloaders.
 
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