45 Colt Half-Moon Clips

[StrawHat]

Good on you Jim! And good for the OP!

Kevin

 

[steelslaver]

IF TKCs clips are .025 thick and your 45colt brass has .060 rims they should work in a cylinder with a 45 acp rear face. as that adds up to. .085

But, I would have to believe those clips would be really easy to distort. They would only be 2/3 the thickness of regular full moons and .053 at the narrowest part of the arm plus narrower in the portion that circles the ratchet. Add that up with 6-255 gr slugs that are 1 1/4" away from the clip and I can envision some problems. That plus TKC is very proud of their clips at about $8 a piece

here is an acp clip

vs a Colt clip

 

[Hondo44]

Full and half moon clips I have are army surplus and are .040” thick. I surface ground them to .020” and they have survived very well. And they’re easier to clip in and remove cases.

 

[steelslaver]

Interesting.

But I take it you are using them on acp brass and probably in a cylinder where they still headspace on the case mouth????

The colt brass doesn't have much of a groove either depth or width, will you thinned clips snap on the colt brass without modifying the diameter where the round clips in

I would be tempted to put a stock extractor back in the acp cylinder I reamed to 45 colt and use both 45acp in regulat .040 full moons and 45 colt in some thinned out ones. I have the ability to do some minor surface grinding with a special flat faced grinding cone in my mill and my magnetic chuck

 

[Hondo44]

Yes I used them on ACP brass in a Ruger 45 Colt single action cylinder. The acp cases do not headspace on the cases mouths. I don't use the clips on the 45 Colt cases, they will not fit in the clips.

I load full moon clips of acp only in the extra 45 Colt cylinders in a belt pouch for speedy cylinder swapping for speed loading. By thinning the clips I didn’t need to modify the headspace of the gun.

 

[DWalt]

I would need a great deal of motivation to go through any of these makeshift modifications, and instead just use .45 ACP in moon clips or .45 AR cases. Can it be done? Sure, almost anything can be done with enough time and/or money but I personally wouldn't waste either on a goofy project like this.

 

[Hondo44]

Well some consider the use of clips a classic makeshift, even a goofy waste of time, and a pain in the butt. In fact to have the benefit to shoot 45 Colt in the same gun (that was incorrectly converted) using the simple adapter is far easier than using acp in clips.

I’ll shoot 45 AR in my revolver rather than acp any day. Acp is for my autos as originally intended.

 

[StrawHat]

Let’s not forget, S&W made one revolver that could use both the ACP and the long Colt cartridge by changing the extractor.

Kevin

 

[erikpolcrack]

Thanks for all the great input and the very interesting discussion. Just wanted to let you guys know that the TK Custom 45 Colt moon clips have arrived and work perfectly. I now have one of my longtime grail guns - a 45 that works with both Colt and ACP with only a change of moon/half-moon clips.

 

[erikpolcrack]

Will be trying Hondo44's suggestion of clipping one of the TK Custom 45 Colt moon clips and fastening it to the extractor to try to achieve a clip-less 45 Colt conversion while retaining 45 ACP capability with half-moon clips.

 

[smoothshooter]

.45 Colt may not have enough of a rim for moon clips to stay attached to during extraction.

 

[Hondo44]

The clip won’t be functioning as an actual clip, only as a spacer. 45 Colt is a rimmed cartridge, therefore will eject from a revolver just fine and doesn’t need to be in clips like ACP.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I don't remember ever seeing any such clips and I do not know how they could be made for a .45 Colt case. Seems as though whoever did the rechambering of your cylinder didn't know how to do it. I would just use .45 ACP and moon clips only in it under the circumstances and forget using .45 Colt.. Or maybe use .45 AR.

Yep.....Whoever did it didn't set the head space for the 45LC rim......I agree with you. Only use 45 AR or 45 acp.

 

[Hondo44]

It was established early on what the problem is and I’m sure the original poster understands it. Limiting his shooting to ACP ammo is a solution obvious to the most casual observer and doesn’t need repeating to distraction.

I suspect the OP would much prefer suggestions of work around possibilities to consider and can decide for himself about the relative inconvenience involved.

 

[erikpolcrack]

I've got two other M1917s from which I exclusively shoot 45 ACP in moon/half-moon clips. I bought this modified M1917 for the express purpose of shooting 45 Colt from it. Its ability to still use 45 ACP in half-moon clips is a much-appreciated bonus. As I said before, the TK Custom 45 Colt moon clips work great and give me the capability I wanted. I am going to follow through with Hondo44's suggestion of clipping a Colt moon clip and fastening it to the extractor to see if I can achieve 45 Colt use without the moon clips.

 

[PhilT]

TK can definitely resolve your issue.

 

[StrawHat]

Gun Digest, 35th Edition, 1981

Good article about adding a second cylinder to the 1917.

Kevin