940-3

[halfmoonclip]

At the prompting of a buddy (who always ends up costing me money), checked at a local shop about availability of the new 940-3. Have a 940 dash nothing, and give it mixed reviews. The action slicked up really well, but it is snappy to shoot with my standard (1100'sec) 115 FMJ reloads.
Turns out, the shop had no trouble getting me one; dragged it along to camp for one cylinderful of Blazer Brass 115 FMJ. Surprisingly, the recoil wasn't bad at all, and the empties ejected effortlessly.
Other good news, it takes the same moons as my 940. Oddly, it wouldn't accept a moonfull of my reloads, that fit in the 940, but it's been fine with factory, and at least some of my reloads. The troublesome ones were oft-reloaded cases, so may have been a little out of spec.
The bad news, while the factory trigger wasn't terrible, there was a definite hitch when the hand went past the ratchet. worse on some chambers than others. On a deliberate roll-through, a couple chambers wouldn't fire, though an abrupt stroke would do it.
Really like the sights, and the VZ stocks feel good, though they aren't high horn.
Brought it home, and had a look. Took a little off the offending ratchets (really hate to do that; it's easy to over do). There's still a little hangup at the end of stroke, but it's much improved.
The rebound spring is the standard blue; put in a 13lb from my stash, and slicked things up inside.
Not surprisingly, the hammer has the cuts for the lock, although there isn't one. Oddly, there's a single action sear notch.
Really like the notion of feeding a revo 9s; here's hoping.
I'll post more later.
Moon

 

[Rock185]

Your new 940-3 is just over an ounce heaver than my old 940-1. That would help moderate the felt recoil. As you've found, that hitch as the hand goes past the ratchet, is just that. That means means the hand is pushing past the ratchet with no slop, and the carry up/"timing" will likely be very solid for a long time. Not like some of the new S&Ws I've bought, where there is no hitch there at all, and the cylinder does not quite carry up properly. S&W could easily do what you did with the ratchets, use a narrower hand on the rachet cutting tool, or simply install hands a thousandths or two narrower, but on a production basis, some new guns would not time up. Always hope any new S&W I buy will have that hitch, with the attendant solid carry up. With use, the "hitch" smooths out, and may not be noticeable at all at some point. My new Mountain Gun demonstrates the same "hitch", and times up very solidly.

I've used all kinds of factory ammo in my old 940. The 115 at ~1100 is OK, but I've also shot 9mm NATO, +P and +P+ is some of my 9mm revolvers. Ballistics with some of those gets closer to .357 than .38+P; so does the recoil. BTW, our reloading dies do not size used brass down to factory dimensions down near the case head. The shell holder prevents this. So some reloads may not fit in some chambers.

Enjoy that new 940. They look like pretty neat guns to me., especially the new barrel and sights...

 

[halfmoonclip]

Fired the 940 and the 940-3 tonight, and noticed a couple things:
-The Blazer Brass did not seem to have as abrupt a recoil, in either gun, as did my reloads. This, despite have similar velocities out of a 4" auto.
-Had no trouble beating the daylights out of the 10 in a B29 silhouette at 21' with the 940-3. The sights are a big help, as are the VZ grips.
-Extraction was painless, either almost falling out, or a light push on the ejector.
-For folks who like to stage a DA trigger, the hitch makes a break point, though I prefer to roll through it. Actually, I have most of it tuned out, but the MIM guns don't smooth up as well as the older, forged parts.
Gotta love Centennials in general, and 9mms especially.
Moon

 

[zaitcev]

I'll post more later.

You haven't bought one of my speedloaders, I presume? How do you carry the ammunition?

 

[halfmoonclip]

You haven't bought one of my speedloaders, I presume? How do you carry the ammunition?

Speedloaders for a moonclip gun? What am I missing?
Moon

 

[zaitcev]

Speedloaders for a moonclip gun? What am I missing?

Heh. Indeed, the so-called "speedloaders" do not add any speed(+). They only serve to protect the clips in your pocket and to provide a familiar speedloader format with a knob. This way you can use pouches and other carry methods. Although as much as I can tell, most users buy them for pocket carry.

See this video for a demonstration (Taurus serves as a model, but a Smith 940 is the same):



Anyway, that was a serious question. What is your method for the ammunition on clips?

(+) For some guns, like Taurus 380UL, the clips let ammunition wobble enough to cause trouble. The speedloader stabilizes the cartridges and may improve the average speed by eliminating fumble.

 

[Erich]

(Neat-o!)

 

[halfmoonclip]

They only serve to protect the clips in your pocket and to provide a familiar speedloader format with a knob.

Now that is mighty slick. Makes perfect sense. Now that the recoil situation seems pretty well under control, the older 940 may see some carry duty. I've been just shoving the moons in my pocket.
Moon

 

[Erich]

I wrote a Q to Mr. Zaitcev and he replied immediately with a very gracious and informative answer: now I have one on order!

 

[crows]

Carrying my older 940 never happened because of not being able to come up with a suitable method of carrying reloads. I saw these a while back and found the site on EBay. I now just have to come up with some spare money and buy.

 

[Outpost75]

My older 940 was rechambered in same manner as my Ruger India Service Six so that it can use 9mm with clips or .38 S&W without clips. Fixed sights are on at 50 feet with 147-grain Federal 9MS in 9mm or 146 LRN .38 S&W.

I handload "9mm Federal Rimmed" equivalent in .38 S&W brass with 3.5 grains of Bullseye and Speer 135 GD Short Barrel for 900 fps. Current manufacture R-P .38 S&W brass measures .382 over the solid head above rim so these loads chamber in many .38 Specials and so are useable also in my S&W 642.

 

[penny_royal]

Heh. Indeed, the so-called "speedloaders" do not add any speed(+). They only serve to protect the clips in your pocket and to provide a familiar speedloader format with a knob. This way you can use pouches and other carry methods. Although as much as I can tell, most users buy them for pocket carry...

I have had my 940-3 back for a few days now, and have confirmed the impression I had before sending it back to the mothership... works great for pocket carry. Ordering another to have a spare.

 

[jcelect]

Please explain how this is accomplished!
#11
My older 940 was rechambered in same manner as my Ruger India Service Six so that it can use 9mm with clips or .38 S&W without clips. Fixed sights are on at 50 feet with 147-grain Federal 9MS in 9mm or 146 LRN .38 S&W.

A 38 S&W bullet is .361" and a 9mm bullet is .355"! The proper brass for both will be even larger.

 

[Erich]

Please explain how this is accomplished!
#11
My older 940 was rechambered in same manner as my Ruger India Service Six so that it can use 9mm with clips or .38 S&W without clips. Fixed sights are on at 50 feet with 147-grain Federal 9MS in 9mm or 146 LRN .38 S&W.

A 38 S&W bullet is .361" and a 9mm bullet is .355"! The proper brass for both will be even larger.

Brass is squishy: sizing and crimping .38 S&W brass around a .355" bullet for use in a revolver chambered in 9x19 is not uncommon (most often done by the competition guys - search the web for many discussions of the topic).

 

[Outpost75]

Please explain how this is accomplished!
#11
My older 940 was rechambered in same manner as my Ruger India Service Six so that it can use 9mm with clips or .38 S&W without clips. Fixed sights are on at 50 feet with 147-grain Federal 9MS in 9mm or 146 LRN .38 S&W.

A 38 S&W bullet is .361" and a 9mm bullet is .355"! The proper brass for both will be even larger.

Manson makes the reamer. Can be done by hand. Reamer has fixed depth stop at .755" so that .38 S&W case head stands proud to compensate for lack of clip used on 9mm. Ball seat entrance is cut to .362 major diameter with 3 degrees Basic transition. Rest of cylinder throat remains at .355". No issues firing jacketed .380 Mk2z because that was design intent.

 

[Outpost75]

Brass is squishy: sizing and crimping .38 S&W brass around a .355" bullet for use in a revolver chambered in 9x19 is not uncommon (most often done by the competition guys - search the web for many discussions of the topic).

Brass resized in .38 Special FL sizer and expanded with 9mm expander plug to load jacketed bullets. Use 9mm data. Zero issues in the S&W 940 or Ruger 9mm revolvers..

 

[Outpost75]

Please explain how this is accomplished!
#11
My older 940 was rechambered in same manner as my Ruger India Service Six so that it can use 9mm with clips or .38 S&W without clips. Fixed sights are on at 50 feet with 147-grain Federal 9MS in 9mm or 146 LRN .38 S&W.

A 38 S&W bullet is .361" and a 9mm bullet is .355"! The proper brass for both will be even larger.

If you pull down .38 S&W Factory rounds bullet diameter is .358 for either lead RN or military .380 Mk2z FMJ rounds. No issue.

 

[Erich]

Say, just to follow up: Mr. Zaitcev's "speed" loader arrived yesterday and it's a dandy way to carry and protect your ammo - and it's turning out to be a whole lot faster to load my newer SP101 9x19 (can't speak to the Nineties ones - they use different clips) than anything else I've tried.

Okay, I had a 940 (should have never let it go - you know the drill . . . ) and I used to shoot it a lot. Major downside was some ammo would stick in the chambers, but with Ranch Products moon clips I got to where I was as fast with loading that gun as any pocket semiauto with magazines: I'd practically throw the moons into the open cylinder, zoom.

This post-2016 576-series SP101 9x19 uses clips that are inferior to the Ranch Products clips: they bend more, cost more, and don't hold the ammo nearly as steady - five rounds of wobbly ammo are mighty slow to goose into five different holes at the same time. (Boo.)

But (new model) Ruger SP101 9x19 clips fit in the Fraurem R9S model speed loader - which holds them steady and which protects the primers from pocket lint, etc. They stay put in the protective sheath until I thumb the button to draw the loader portion, and then they nose right in to all five chambers. Then there's a little tilt move that's necessary to pop the moon clip off the loader's grasp, drop the loader as you close the chamber and bring the gun back up - Bob's your uncle.











I'd note that certain bullet shapes (the Winchester Talon line) appear to make the process easier, but they all work smoothly enough. Twisting the "speedloader" to pop it off the moon clips has worked well but takes a moment of practice and seems to work more smoothly with some brass case types than others.

Talons are on the top: RA9TA upper left and Canada 147s on right. Below (L-R) are Golden Saber 124s, HST 147s and Gold Dot 147s. All work, but the Talons pop in to the SP's cylinder the easiest.
[a href="[URL]https://postimg.cc/gLVncV9t[/URL]"][/a]

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Anyhow, I'm impressed: I'll be buying a couple more of these (easy to find the Fraurem loaders new on eBay): so glad I looked at this thread.

 

[toddimusnimski]

Thanks for the review - I just ordered some after seeing your good feedback.

Todd

 

[zaitcev]

Now I feel guilty for hijacking Mr. Halfmoonclip's thread.

We can still get it on track if someone posts how they carry ammo for their 940.

 

[Erich]

Now I feel guilty for hijacking Mr. Halfmoonclip's thread.

We can still get it on track if someone posts how they carry ammo for their 940.

My apologies, too, although I do think this entire thread elucidates the matter.

However, back when I had the mourned customized no-dash 940, I used a small amber prescription bottle that held two loaded clips perfectly and didn't bulge too much in my front left jeans pocket. I could scoop the bottle out and jiggle it in front of the 940's open cylinder to get the rounds lined up to fall into the chambers. Again, the solid hold of the Ranch Products moon clips really made this work - no jiggle to the rounds (unlike the awful design of the new model Ruger SP101 moons for the newer 9x19s like mine).

Nevertheless, my pill-bottle method wasn't especially fast. If I had a moon clip in my hand, I could load quicker than a duck on a junebug (as mentioned up-thread), but that's not how it was with the clips in the pill bottle.

Comparing apples and oranges (having utilized both the Fraurem loader with my jiggly SP101 moons and the pill bottle method with the 940's solid ones), I'd say I load with about the same in subjective speed - but obviously I no longer have the 940 (and it's been years), so this is just the memory of an old man. The Fraurem R9S loader is a little wider in the pocket than the pill bottle but there's no way to keep lint and crud out of the pill bottle unless you use the lid or a balloon . . . and doing so would make it a whole lot slower than the Fraurem.

Also, with the R9S one is able to control and rotate the rounds to fit the chambers . . . so I think if one were comparing apples to apples (the 940 moon clips from a pill bottle vs. the same 940 moon clips from the Fraurem loader), the loader would be faster. However, for a practiced individual with solid 940 moon clips, a clip in the left hand is as fast as it gets. Great if you're at the range - probably not how you'd walk around the office.

 

[zaitcev]

However, back when I had the mourned customized no-dash 940, I used a small amber prescription bottle that held two loaded clips perfectly and didn't bulge too much in my front left jeans pocket. I could scoop the bottle out and jiggle it in front of the 940's open cylinder to get the rounds lined up to fall into the chambers.
. . .
The Fraurem R9S loader is a little wider in the pocket than the pill bottle but there's no way to keep lint and crud out of the pill bottle unless you use the lid or a balloon . . . and doing so would make it a whole lot slower than the Fraurem.

Did you look at 35 mm film canister for the 940? I know it works for LCR and permits to open it with your thumb (modern pill bottles have child-resistant caps that must be pressed twisted).

Regarding the speed, customers sent me videos of themselves doing drills with R2. Fishing the speedloader from the pocket takes the majority of time in them. For this reason, I'm most interested with finding a suitable speedloader carrier. Personally I cannot deal with IWB and I prefer a belt-straddle variety. But this ought to beat the pants off pocket carry.

If we know of an outstanding speedloader carrier for 640 that is just a little too tall for R2S, I can make the knob taller. But I cannot make it narrower. So a carrier where the knob goes into a hole in the flap is not likely to work (although some holes are large).

 

[Erich]

Did you look at 35 mm film canister for the 940? I know it works for LCR and permits to open it with your thumb (modern pill bottles have child-resistant caps that must be pressed twisted).

Never did that I can recall, but you've got me running out to the garage to grab one to try with the SP101 . . .

 

[penny_royal]

...there's no way to keep lint and crud out of the pill bottle unless you use the lid or a balloon . . . and doing so would make it a whole lot slower than the Fraurem.

You can actually get a non-child proof lid for any Rx medication container just by asking at the pharmacy counter. Most just pop right off with a thumb just like a film canister top but with the added advantage that they hold two loaded clips instead of just one with a half inch of "rattle space."

The advantages of the R2S holder is that it gives you a perfect handle for aligning the cartridges with the cylinder as well as a no-rattle unit to put in your pocket.

Liked mine a lot, with that being in the past tense because the 940 is either going back to Smith& Wesson for a second time or back to Davidson's for an exchange. The thread on that is elsewhere on this site, but the short version is that it was sent off the first time with an annoying problem, and came back with a new issue that locks up the weapon entirely. If I wanted a melee weapon for self-defense, I would have bought a rock.

I have a new snubby on order from Bud's (and I'll just say that it's not from Springfield) to have something that I can pocket carry while this cycle plays out. My G26 doesn't qualify for me as a pocket gun.

 

[Erich]

I'm so sorry to hear of the issues with your 940. (Turns out the SP101 clips for this newer model I have are too wide to fit into that sized medicine bottle, anyway - I was mighty sad when I learned that as soon as I got the gun years back as I'd thought to carry spares just as I did for the 940 I used to have.) As mentioned supra, I agree that the ability to index the R2S to meet the chambers is a wonderful thing about it.

 

[penny_royal]

They're of course all very similar, Erich, and in all likelihood from the same two or three manufacturers, but some containers I got a few years ago from back when I was with Kaiser Permanente work fine for the new 940s. If you are friendly with your pharmacist and he can pull out his inventory for you, you might get lucky, but Z's carriers are a much better option.

Of course if you ever need that third clip, the difference between too much ammo and not enough is that single zombie that makes it past the wire...

 

[toddimusnimski]

Now I feel guilty for hijacking Mr. Halfmoonclip's thread.

We can still get it on track if someone posts how they carry ammo for their 940.

My speedloaders arrived today and I tried them in a nylon shoulder rig. A very snug fit which is nice, so when releasing the loader the housing stays in the pouch. Loading the cylinder works just as advertised.

OP, looking forward to more reviews as you get used to the new hardware. I will probably stick with factory 9mm ammo for now, although I did pick up a few boxes of .380 to see how that goes. Supposed to work just fine, but best not to be carried for defensive purposes.

Todd

 

[halfmoonclip]

Put some .380s in the 940's moons, and they promptly fell out. It might be possible to gently feed a loaded moon into the cyliinder.
Moon

 

[GerSan69]

Heh. Indeed, the so-called "speedloaders" do not add any speed(+). They only serve to protect the clips in your pocket and to provide a familiar speedloader format with a knob. This way you can use pouches and other carry methods. Although as much as I can tell, most users buy them for pocket carry.

Anyway, that was a serious question. What is your method for the ammunition on clips?

(+) For some guns, like Taurus 380UL, the clips let ammunition wobble enough to cause trouble. The speedloader stabilizes the cartridges and may improve the average speed by eliminating fumble.

I picked up 3 of your speedloaders recently and I think they're great. I utilize an inexpensive nylon 2-pocket speedloader pouch, and the loaders fit and remove from it easily. I think you have a winner for J moonclips. Are you planning to release any in other sizes and calibers?
I recommend these to anyone using moon clips in J or similar small revolvers. They completely changed my carry strategy for reloads by making it unlikely that the clips will bend or accidentally release a round.

 

[sixshooter]

Just bought a new 940-3 last night, should be picking it up early next week....enjoy yours !!