US Concealed Carry By Duane A. Daiker
Even in a world full of high-capacity autoloaders, many lawfully armed citizens still choose a revolver.
Revolvers have a number of advantages over semi-automatic pistols, but speed of reloading is not one of them. Revolvers are limited by relatively small ammunition capacity, which is made even worse by the slow and sometimes difficult reloading process.
Over the years, a number of different techniques have evolved to help load revolvers more quickly and reliably, including speed loaders, speed strips, and moon clips. All of these involve some type of device to hold the rounds together and help simultaneously align them with the chambers in the cylinder.
Of these techniques, however, the use of moon clips may be the least understood. Outside of revolver competitions, the use of moon clips is somewhat uncommon, but they are a tool worthy of your consideration.
Ultimately, moon clips are just another way of loading a revolver.
Moon clip basics
A moon clip is a star-shaped sheet of thin metal, usually spring steel, designed to hold multiple cartridges together as a single unit. Most moon clips are designed to hold the exact number of rounds necessary to fully load a particular revolver’s cylinder, but there are also “half-moon clips†that fill half the cylinder, and even “one-third†moon clips that hold only two rounds each. This article will focus on the more common “full-moon clips†that hold 5, 6, 7, or 8 rounds, depending upon the full capacity of the revolver in question.
Moon clips are actually required for most revolvers chambered for semiautomatic calibers like 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP. These calibers use a rimless case that is designed to feed and extract more efficiently in an autoloader. The moon clip rides inside the indented groove in the case, and functions like a cartridge rim to set the headspace for the cartridge when chambered. Revolvers using rimless cartridges cannot be fired without moon clips.
The moon clip can also be used with traditional rimmed revolver cartridges such as .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .44 Special and .44 Magnum. With rimmed cartridges, moon clips are not required, but may be used to increase speed and efficiency in loading.
However, unlike a revolver designed to fire a rimless cartridge, a revolver chambered for a rimmed cartridge must be specially modified to allow the use of moon clips. The cylinder has to be cut so the moon clip sits flush on the mouth of each chamber without changing the head spacing of the cartridge.
However, only the inside of the chamber mouth has to be recessed, so even a cylinder cut for moon clips can be used without moon clips in the traditional manner. The necessary cylinder modification to accommodate the use of a moon clip can be part of the original factory design of the revolver or can be done as an aftermarket modification by a qualified gunsmith.
More:
https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/reloading-revolver-moon-clips/