Who invented the 'Moon Clip? And...

[Oyeboten]

When did it first appear?


I recognise it made quite a showing with the large Frame M1917 S & W and Colt Revolvers for the U.S. Military, for those Revolvers to chamber the .45 ACP Cartridge.

But, had it never existed before that?


I imagine the 'Full Moon' version would have existed along with the abbreviated forms, but that the Military had likely prefered a Two-Bullet or a Three Bullet 'Clip' which would be a lot less likely to get bent or twisted and hence Jam the Revolver, in the rigors and exigencies of War.

So who invented it? Who was the Patent Holder?


Has anyone ever seen 'Moon Clips' having Patent info stamped into them? Like anything else would have?

 

[ChristopherG]

My recollection--and I believe the source would be Elmer Keith's 'Sixguns', though I'm sure I've read it elsewhere on the net, too--is that the .45 acp round was first put into HALF clips (which were considered a disposable adjunct to the cases they held) when the sixgun models you mention were kluged together for the doughboys of the Great War.

I've never heard any individual credited with the invention or seen anything like a patent claim related to them.

 

[StrawHat]

I believe the moon clips were a product of the mind of one of the Smith & Wesson engineers and brought out with the 1917 they supplied to the military during WW1. The 1/2 moon is what the military choose because it would fit into the boxes they used to ship ammunition at that time, two rows of cartridges. The full moon designed by S&W was a rather delicate item and too bulky for use by the military. Not sure when the 1/3 moon came along.

Ranch products makes good versions of them all.

http://www.ranchproducts.com/aboutus.html

 

[Jim Watson]

The Webley Fosbery automatic revolver model of 1902 was available in .38 High Velocity, their term for the .38 ACP. It had an 8 shot cylinder loaded with a full moon clip. There were very few sold, so the Wesson clip design for US 1917 .45s was considered a new thing and covered by a US patent.

 

[Old Fuff]

Colt first came up with the idea of half-moon clips during 1917 so that rimless .45 ACP cartridges could be fired, and ejected from a revolver's cylinder. The Army was painfully short of 1911 .45 pistols, and wanted revolvers that could use the pistol round.

Smith & Wesson then came into the picture with their 1917 model revolver, but there was some delay because they didn't have the tooling and forging dies to make 5 1/2" barrels - and that's what the Army wanted.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

Rev. Sun Myung Moon?

 

[rcmodel]

Colt first came up with the idea of half-moon clips during 1917 so that rimless .45 ACP cartridges could be fired,

I hate to disagree, but Joseph Wesson of S&W first came up with the idea.
It was patented by him on June 26, 1917.

S&W later gave the government (and Colt) free rights to the clip idea, and it was adoped for the 1917 revolvers from both companies.

S&W also begin reaming the chambers to allow single-round use without clips.
Colt only later adopted that idea too, and the first Colt guns could not be fired without clips because the chambers were bored straight through with no headspace shoulder.

rc

 

[StrawHat]

rcmodel ... but Joseph Wesson of S&W first came up with the idea.
It was patented by him on June 26, 1917.

S&W later gave the government (and Colt) free rights to the clip idea, and it was adoped for the 1917 revolvers from both companies.

S&W also begin reaming the chambers to allow single-round use without clips.
Colt only later adopted that idea too, and the first Colt guns could not be fired without clips because the chambers were bored straight through with no headspace shoulder.

rc

Thank you for filling in my failing memory.

I recall seeing a photo of one of the early full moon clips, I have since lost the reference but there were springs to hold the cartridges in place.