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Moon Clips in 38 special

N

norfdet

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Someone tell me how the moon clips in 38 special work, I used to have a 940 so I am familiar with now rimless moon clips work; they seem to keep the rounds together quite well. I was considering sending my 637-3 off to have the cylinder machined to accept moon clips but since I have never seen one like this I don't know what to expect. Since the 38 special round has a rim how does it (if it actually does) lock into the moon clip or do the rounds fall free. Would the moon clip be able to be carried loosly in a pocket as an extra reload or again are the rounds going to come loose.

Someone who has or uses one give me some advice. I am fast with a speed loader and quite quick with a speed loader but I feel the use of 38 special moon clips would make reloading under a stressful situation that much faster.

I want to get some more advice before I commit to getting it done.
 
Someone tell me how the moon clips in 38 special work, I used to have a 940 so I am familiar with now rimless moon clips work; they seem to keep the rounds together quite well. I was considering sending my 637-3 off to have the cylinder machined to accept moon clips but since I have never seen one like this I don't know what to expect. Since the 38 special round has a rim how does it (if it actually does) lock into the moon clip or do the rounds fall free. Would the moon clip be able to be carried loosly in a pocket as an extra reload or again are the rounds going to come loose.

Someone who has or uses one give me some advice. I am fast with a speed loader and quite quick with a speed loader but I feel the use of 38 special moon clips would make reloading under a stressful situation that much faster.

I want to get some more advice before I commit to getting it done.
 
I think you're described the disadvantage for defense use: you can't really just stuff them in a pocket like a speedloader and expect them to be good to go when you need them. A holder of some kind is better.

In my experience, the longer cartridges are more picky than the 9mm and .45 ACP in moon clips.
 
Any revolver for a rimmed cartridge such as the 38 Special msut have it's cylinder machined fot the depth of the moonclips. After the conversion one can still use a speedloader since the rimmed round can still headspace on the top of the cylinder.

That aside, 38 Special moonclips are much thinner and not as strudy as 45 ACP moonclips.
 
When a cylinder originally chambered for rimmed cartridges is machined to clear moonclips, the headspace datum remains the same.

That means that if you later decided that moonclips are not worth it, you can go right back to speedloaders with no further expense or trouble.

Sounds like a win-win to me.
 
Moonclips for .38 Special are much thinner than those for .38 Super, 9mm or .45 ACP. They are very easily bent and usually case brand sensitive. I love the moonclip guns (have three 625s and a 940, recently got rid of a 627-4 that did not live up to expensive expectations) but I would never moonclip a .38 Special that would be used as a defense gun. Moonclipped .38 Special is big among the ICORE competitors with their 7 and 8 shooters but all the competitors I know take great pains to keep these revolvers running smoothly and they still get the occasional sticky, problematic reload. As you are good with speedloaders, I would not bother with the moonclips.

If you do decide to have it moonclipped, you can still use loose rounds. I once had a .45 Colt that was moonclipped and use of loose rounds would wear the tops of the rims and make them very sharp. I could never figure out why but then I eventually got rid of that gun too. I don't know if it would happen with .38 Special but it's something to think about.

Dave Sinko
 
I like moon clipped guns and have never had any problems with them. But unless you shoot competitive sports you would not likely have any need for a moon clipped 38. I have 6 moon clipped 38/357 revolvers. I only use them in competition.
 
I can see sending my 64-5 off for the moon clip conversion. If I can find a safe way to make IDPA major in a .38 Special that doesn't wack the K-frame too hard, I'll do just that.

I was thinking about sending my J-frame BUG for the same treatment. Since one can still load and fire without the clips, I could still carry my spare ammo in a speed loader or speed strip. In the event I needed to reload the J, the moon clipped empties would clear and fall free a lot more reliably than they tend to do from a J frame.
 
I think he was simply asking what holds the rimmed cartridges in the clip.

Most rimmed cartridges still have a groove just ahead of the rim, similar to the auto cartridges. However this groove is usually narrow and shallow, so the clips must also be that way to fit. You may find that some brands of cases are better for clips than others.
 
norfdet, I have a J frame that was cut for moon clips. The main reason was for ejection - Not for loading. For fast loading and carry in a pocket look at Jetloaders:

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.as...REVOLVER%20JETLOADER

With moon clips ejection of empties in a J frame with a short ejector rod is easier because one can grab the clip and pull vs grabbing each of 5 cases and pulling them out. As said above the clips are thin and ammo sensitive. Remington and Federal work well but are quite loose (in J frame clips only). One other advantage to moon clips in a ccw gun is loading and unloading often - easier to keep track of a moon clip than individual cartidges.
 
Good for you.

I agree with the rest. If you are shooting competition go with the moons but if you are going to keep your extra reloads in your pocket stay with Jetloaders, Safariland Comp III or even Comp II and Is.

Clips are brand sensitive to the cases. RP and Federal work well but Winchester will not work in most moon clips. Starline takes their own special clip becasue they will just flop around in the standard ones.

Practice with what you have. There is no difference in speed unless you go with a 625 and moons. That's the fastest revolver to reload because you can throw the moons at the cylinder and they will go in.
 
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