Can moon clips be used to speed up competition or just many round range trips reloads, in our classic pinned and recessed revolvers? If so, is there a recommended thickness of clip?

Pinnacle charges extra for clip cuts on a recessed cylinder. The clip thickness is not mentioned on his www but I am sure he would recommend something. Note that revolver clips are different from brand to brand of brass.
Cylinder Work

TK says nothing about plain versus recessed, he charges more but includes Stuff. He has .025" clips but I bet that is for one or a few brands of brass.
Cylinder Machining for S&W Firearms Revolvers | TK Custom Store

You cannot use a moon clip in any revolver that wasn't designed around the use of them unless you custom alter them to work. So that is the very beginning of the conversation -- if you were asking if you can simply grab a pre-1982 Smith & Wesson revolver of any model or caliber, and then buy moon clips. It doesn't work that way.

Beyond that, yes, you can custom alter these revolvers to work with moon clips. As to whether or not that is a good idea, well that's a much larger subject.

I can start you with this much:

Moon clips tend to work extremely fast and easy in .45 ACP chambered revolvers, but keep in mind that the .45 cylinder has a big fat hole for each chamber and .45 ACP ammo are short, fat, blunt little nuggets that zoom in to the chambers when they are all clipped together. And you lose that advantage when the bore size shrinks.

.40cal, .38/.357, 9mm, physics ultimately says that while these do work, none of them are going to drop in as easily and with as much room for ham-fisted, unpracticed error as the big fat .45's do.

Thanks guys that’s the info I wanted. Not possible without cutting the chamber mouths. I never used them but was wondering fir future use to speed things up a bit. I will not cut a classic revolver and since recessed does not also mean moon clips will drop in properly, if I do any cutting it will be on a newer model. Can’t bring myself to get a pistol caliber specific revolver, just grates on my old teeth. Had a 9mm conversion cyl for a flattop .357 but it stayed in the pouch. I HAVE shot 9mm out of a friend’s late-Model performance center gun, but .38/.357 is just my old guy thing I guess.
Hey, dinner special at 4pm at the Coral!
Oh lord….

What cartridge and Model are you considering for a moon clip? That make a huge difference in the answer.

Another option, and one that is cheaper than a new revolver is a spare cylinder. Get yourself a spare and have it cut for moonclips. One revolver, two options!

Kevin

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Once you use a revolver that can utilize moonclips, you'll wonder why all revolvers aren't designed for them. They're faster and easier to use than speedloaders, especially in 45acp. As I've said in other threads, for loading and uploading the clips, get a BMT tool if you're going to get serious about using them.

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There are many folks who share your opinion but my experience was 180 degrees opposite. I owned the 625 Model of 1988 and a Model 646. Never say never… but I have no desire to futz around with moon clips ever again. I have numerous complaints but to be hasty, I’ll pick my biggest: it’s indeed, de-mooning them.

That’s addressed (somewhat) by a handy and not inexpensive tool, but for me it reduced a seething hate to easy futzing.

If you engage in competition shooting with revolvers, you will be learning the craft of moonclips.

If you don’t compete but you find the idea intriguing, you should definitely try them.

If you think that moon clips are what has been missing from your life long love and enjoyment of revolvers… I’d say that is quite unlikely.

As mentioned above the 45ACP round nose work great for fast reloads! However, the difficulty factor increases(fast) with round count in the clips and the type of bullet used! Almost impossible is a flat nose 220gr 357 Mag in an 8 rd full moon clip! Many people use these for bowling pins!

jcelect

By classic pinned and recessed revolvers I'm assuming you are referring to the cylinder counter bore (pre-82) of magnum chamber S&W's, and not 45 ACP or 38 special. In 1982 the space between the cylinder and recoil shield was increased to accommodate the thickness if the rim. Am I missing something?

Moon clips are designed to snap into the extractor groove of a semiauto cartridge case, which standard revolver ammo does not have. Magnum revolvers are all that have the recessed cylinders and don't use semiauto brass. If you want more rapid reloading buy and learn to use speed loaders or speed strips.

Ok, that’s impressive. Never saw that many loaded moon-clips before. 👍

I have always thought S&W knew exactly what they were doing when they used the 3 round 1/2 moon clip in the 1917.
My only clip revolver is a 1917 and I do have one of those reloading tools. It works well and I like the half moons much better than the full moon clips. You can stick half moon clips in a pocket. But I do not get involved in any speed-loading competitions either.

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I probably should have been clearer. I ONLY use moonclips in 45acp, six shot revolvers. They are cumbersome with longer revolver rounds like 357 magnum.

The journey is an interesting one for moon clips. Invented out of war time necessity, eventually a way to burn off milsurp ammo. Then to competition and eventually, why not try moonclips in all kinds of other calibers too?

Full moon clips, the original speed loader. They work great in my 25-2. Modern speed loaders for 22 LR are a pita. JMO.