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S&W Hand Ejectors: 1896 to 1961 All 5-Screw & Vintage 4-Screw SWING-OUT Cylinder REVOLVERS, and the 35 Autos and 32 Autos


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Old 07-16-2020, 05:57 PM
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Default demooning tool modification

I've been meaning to post this for a few weeks now.

A few years back I purchased an inexpensive demooning tool from a local gunshop that aquired it from an estate sale bulk purchase.

Not too long ago I decided it needed to be able to moon ammo onto the clips as well as demoon them. I came up with this quick solution using some items I already had at the house.

It now works fine doing both. The trick is to leave the doublenutted hex nut/dome nut and screw just barely loose enough so the moonclip will still rotate.

A quick simple solution in a single simple lightweight tool. I didn't really need it as I have gotten by for years without any special mooning/demooning tools but it was too cheap to pass up.

I'll pay the forum tax and add a few pics of one of my S&W M1917 examples as well.

Dale

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Old 07-16-2020, 05:58 PM
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more demooning/mooning tool pics.

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Old 07-16-2020, 05:58 PM
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and the forum tax pics.

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Old 07-16-2020, 06:22 PM
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American ingenuity right therre
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Old 07-16-2020, 06:26 PM
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The problem I've found with some of the current crop of moon clips is that they aren't tempered and bend easily when de-mooning.


I suppose I could try tempering them???
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Old 07-16-2020, 06:41 PM
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tenntex32:
What is the 4 pointed star "thing" opposite the double nut?
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Old 07-16-2020, 07:12 PM
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Quote:
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tenntex32:
What is the 4 pointed star "thing" opposite the double nut?
I believe that is kind of a "saddle" to push the rounds into the clip.
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Old 07-16-2020, 07:24 PM
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There’s thinking around a problem!

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Old 07-16-2020, 08:21 PM
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Quote:
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tenntex32:
What is the 4 pointed star "thing" opposite the double nut?
We call them "X-blocks" and use them for wire harness installations on aircraft. They allow us to "butterfly" off of existing wire harnesses by zip-tying the "butterfies" to the existing harness and then zip-tying the new harness to the butterflys.

We use them in various shapes and sizes.

I used it to cup the .45acp cartridges so as to guide them into the moonclip opening in a more controlled fashion.

I can have a moonclip loaded up in no time and no worries about bended moonclips. The demooner tool will actually demoon 2 spent or loaded rounds two at a time.

Definitely some "redneck ingenuity" but it works very well.

Dale

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Old 07-16-2020, 08:53 PM
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Have 2 of the demooners shown but have no access to the X blocks. Where can they be bought? Neat setup, Larry
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Old 07-16-2020, 09:30 PM
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Have 2 of the demooners shown but have no access to the X blocks. Where can they be bought? Neat setup, Larry
We get them from an aviation supply company. It doesn't have to be what I used but I looked at some of my scrounge and the X-block I used was the perfect size to work for what I needed without a lot of additional fabrication or modification.

Larry, I may have a few spare X-Blocks in the scrounge. PM me if you don't come up with something locally you can use. Just remember whatever you come up with the handles have to be able to completely touch for proper demooning......or at least my demooner does.

I wonder why the maker of the demooning tool didn't think of making it a mooner as well? Seems a simple enough thing to do.

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Old 07-16-2020, 09:57 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tenntex32 View Post
We call them "X-blocks" and use them for wire harness installations on aircraft. They allow us to "butterfly" off of existing wire harnesses by zip-tying the "butterfies" to the existing harness and then zip-tying the new harness to the butterflys.

We use them in various shapes and sizes.

I used it to cup the .45acp cartridges so as to guide them into the moonclip opening in a more controlled fashion.

I can have a moonclip loaded up in no time and no worries about bended moonclips. The demooner tool will actually demoon 2 spent or loaded rounds two at a time.

Definitely some "redneck ingenuity" but it works very well.

Dale
You mean this wasn't originally intended/designed for loading clips too? Somehow I missed that part. I assumed the "x-block" was a standard part of the unit.
VERY slick modification.
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Old 07-16-2020, 10:14 PM
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My work around was: I grabbed a scrap of Crown Molding (trim carpentry), and lined up 6 loaded 45 ACP rounds in a row in the groove. I stuck an 6" long 7/16" dowel rod in the center of the moon clip and pushed it down into the case's extractor groove, rotate 60 degrees and repeat.

You can use the groove in an armorers block but it holds only 4 at a time.

Ivan
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Old 07-16-2020, 10:15 PM
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tenntex32: I have a brother in law who recently retired from Duncan Aviation, see if he might have access to one of these.
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Old 07-16-2020, 10:55 PM
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Looks like I have a few of the 3/4" tall X-blocks, like the one I used, and a couple of them are "used" and still have engine soot on them as they were probably removed during rework of a used aircraft.

I have about 10 or so of 1/2" tall X-blocks and they all look to be in new condition. The X-dimension is the same, they are just shorter than the 3/4" X-block I used.

What you can't see is that I actually used a hard rubber sleeve/spacer wrapped around the narrow screw centered in the larger hole of the demooner handle and X-block. This was to keep the X-block and screw from moving around in the existing larger holes during use. You may come up with something better but it's what I had at the time and it works perfectly fine.

I would think with some tinkering one could come up with a much better looking solution than mine, especially if you have a small block of nylon or plastic one could shape and drill for a specific fit. Maybe even a hard wood might look nicer and work well.

The center of the moonclip fits the hex nut perfectly and I thought using a dome nut for a doublenut lock looked better than another hex nut. It also acts as a rounded guide when placing the moonclip on and allowed me to set the spinning tension just how I wanted it. You don't want it so loose that the moonclip slips under it, but you want it loose enough to position the moonclip how you want it rather easily.

This was a "proof of concept" project that turned out to be good enough to leave as-is.

Mail me your demooners and I could possibly be bothered with converting them to mooning use for the typical $80 an hour gunsmithing rate. I have a 2-hour minimum for billing.

Last edited by tenntex32; 07-16-2020 at 11:00 PM.
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