{"id":422075,"date":"2024-03-08T13:00:41","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T19:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/?p=422075"},"modified":"2024-04-15T14:44:02","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T19:44:02","slug":"shoot-the-moon-moon-clips-and-revolvers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/shoot-the-moon-moon-clips-and-revolvers\/","title":{"rendered":"Shoot the Moon: Moon Clips and Revolvers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Full moon clips are simply the fastest way to load\/reload a revolver with a swing-out cylinder. They were developed originally to allow rimless auto pistol cartridges to be loaded into a revolver, though some enthusiasts have the cylinders cut on standard revolver caliber guns to allow the use of the moons with rimmed cartridges such as .38 Special and .357 Magnum.<\/p>\n

Conventional wisdom says that three-shot \u201chalf-moon\u201d clips were developed in 1916 by Joseph Wesson at Smith & Wesson<\/a> because America\u2019s entry into WWI was imminent, and there weren\u2019t enough production lines for 1911 pistols to make enough sidearms available for Yanks about to be sent into trench warfare. The large frame Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector and the Colt New Service revolvers were big enough to be chambered for the .45 ACP<\/a>. These six shooters would each be designated Model 1917. Joseph Wesson\u2019s clips allowed the ejector star to clear out rimless cases and, of course, sped up reloading. It supposedly took American ingenuity until the 1970s to figure out that full moon clips would work even better.<\/p>\n

It turns out that conventional wisdom is right about Joseph Wesson and the half-moons of 1916 but wrong about the full moons. In the Volume 55 #1 Spring 2021 issue of the SWCA <\/em>(Smith & Wesson Collectors Association) Journal, <\/em>we find an excellent article by researcher and eminent collector Charles Pate titled \u201cDavid H. Reddie and the Origin of the Model 1917 S&W.\u201d Pate conclusively establishes that \u201c\u2026while Joseph Wesson invented the \u2018half-moon\u2019 cartridge clip ultimately used with both the Colt and S&W M1917 revolvers, he first invented the 6-cartridge clip used for the 1916 test and the specification for his October 24, 1915, patent was witnessed by David Hall Reddie.\u201d That patent can be seen in an image from the Journal <\/em>in the lead photo for this article. Live and learn.<\/p>\n

\"SW
More than 100 years after their inception, moon clip state of the art is seen with 4\u201d S&W Performance Center Model 625 in .45 ACP, an ideal choice for IDPA service revolver competition. Photo credit: author.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Advantages<\/h2>\n

Reloading speed is not the only reason we \u201cmoonclippers\u201d like the concept, but it\u2019s the most obvious moon clip advantage. No knob to turn, nothing to push; just throw the whole package into the cylinder. Watch the legendary Jerry Miculek fire six rounds from his S&W Model 625, reload, and fire six more in 2.99 seconds.\u00a0I\u2019ve found the .45 ACP moons give the fastest reloads: with more metal cut away for their fat cartridges, there\u2019s less steel in the cylinder between chambers for the cartridges to get hung up on.<\/p>\n

\"reloading
Instructor Steve Denney shows you can literally throw a \u201cmoon of hardball\u201d into 3\u201d S&W Model 625-3 \u2013 no revolver reload is faster! (Author’s photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With conventional double-action revolvers, the ejector star can slip over a rim and get caught under the star, a hellacious stoppage to clear. That\u2019s virtually impossible with moon clips. Not only are short auto-caliber cartridge casings likely to clear completely, but they\u2019re all held together.<\/p>\n

This same feature makes ejected brass much easier to find and retrieve. Major action shooting matches tend to be \u201clost brass events.\u201d With other shooters waiting, there\u2019s no time to pick up spent casings one by one, but of course, you\u2019re allowed to retrieve ejected magazines and dropped speedloaders. Happily, your moon clip \u201cspeedloader\u201d also contains your brass.<\/p>\n

\"Model
Moon clip guns come big and small. Above, author\u2019s 5-screw pre-Model 25 S&W 1955 Target 6.5\u201d .45 ACP; below, snub-nose 9mm Ruger LCR. (Author’s photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moon clips are also compact. Two .45 ACP moon clips stacked one above the other occupy about the same space as an N-frame HKS speedloader with .357, .41, or .44 Magnum rounds. Moon clips for shorter 9X19 rounds are even smaller. Moons are also smaller in diameter than same-caliber speedloaders, the bodies of which encompass the cartridges.<\/p>\n

\"a
Two .45 ACP moons occupy about the same space as 1 HKS .41 Magnum speedloader. (Author’s photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Disadvantages<\/h2>\n

Fragility, bulk, and administrative inconvenience are the big shortcomings with moons. That sheet metal is thin and easy to bend. In WWI, doughboys with 1917s were issued canvas pouches for their half-moon clips. Going prone with such a rig and full moons could put enough body weight against them to bend the clip. That could keep the cylinder from closing or allow it to close, only to find that friction of the bent moon against the frame would prevent the cylinder from turning and freeze the gun. I suspect this was a big reason the US military chose the half-moons.<\/p>\n

How to deal with that? When I was first sworn in as a policeman in the early 1970s, my first duty sidearm was a five-screw pre-Model 25 S&W 1955 Target, its barrel cut to four inches and fitted with a Baughman ramp front sight by master gunsmith Nolan Santy. Full moon clips weren\u2019t available then, but a local saddle-maker modified a Leica camera case to fit on my duty belt holding several half-moon clips of .45 ACP. I soon switched to a Colt .45 auto, but a new chief in 1978 insisted that we all carry revolvers, and the 1955 Smith came out of retirement. By now, lightning-fast IPSC shooter John Lazzaro had turned me on to the now-available full moons, with which John could reload his slicked-up 1917 Smith faster than most of us could reload our autos. I found that the Dade N-frame double-speedloader pouch<\/a> would carry two .45 ACP moons in each rigidly-protected compartment, with its Velcro flaps just barely closing.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t get around the fact that the bulk of a moon clip (or speedloader, for that matter) is about the width of a whole other revolver\u2019s cylinder. Bianchi Speed Strips and Tuff brand Quick Strips are available in .44\/.45 size, which allows the use of .45 Auto Rim. Unfortunately, it\u2019s hard to find factory hollow points in the Auto Rim configuration. 9mm moon clip fans are SOL in that respect since Federal has long since discontinued their 9mm Federal round, which was essentially a rimmed version of their excellent 9BP load, a standard velocity 115-grain JHP 9mm round.<\/p>\n

If you carry the now-discontinued Taurus five-shot .45 ACP snub or any of the 9mm snubbies to back up a service auto in the same caliber, you can reload from one of your duty gun\u2019s spare magazines by thumbing the cartridges directly from the magazine into the chamber, where they\u2019ll headspace on the case mouth. But you only get one reload, practically speaking. The ejector star will have no rim to catch, and you\u2019ll have to claw out the empties with a thumbnail or punch them out with a D-Jammer or a Bic Stik pen.<\/p>\n

I mentioned administrative inconvenience. Moon clips are a pain in the butt to fill and a bigger pain to empty. If you get into this technology you definitely <\/em>want to invest in \u201cde-mooning\u201d tools available from such sources as Dillon or Brownell\u2019s. You can even get a tool to help you fill the clips.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"moon
Essential accessories for moon clips include de-mooner tools and protective clip carriers. (Author’s photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The full moon clip revolver isn\u2019t for everyone, but it is ideal for some applications. As with anything else, you must take maximum advantage of its strengths and shore up its weaknesses. I have a baker\u2019s dozen in-house and have found them useful for \u201cgun games\u201d and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Full moon clips are simply the fastest way to load\/reload a revolver with a swing-out cylinder. The full moon clip revolver isn\u2019t for everyone, but for some applications, it is ideal. As with anything else, you take maximum advantage of its strengths and shore up its weaknesses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":422071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-422075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-insights"],"small_media_thumbnail":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Moon-patent-MFA-300x225.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422075"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":426819,"href":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422075\/revisions\/426819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}