which moon clip

[Amp]

I shoot a 686+ loaded with 38 HBWC for bullseye at my club.
The issue is the clips that came with my revolver are really loose with my Starline brass reloads. It takes too long to get my next five shots in the cylinder. I may in the future load a semi wadcutter to speed this up. In the meantime, is there a thicker moon clip to use with my brass??

 

[tlawler]

I like TK Customs clips. The style without the slits are tougher to load rounds into, but they are stiffer and drop in the cylinder more smoothly.

 

[StrawHat]

Moon clips were originally designed to be used with short, fat, stubby cartridge. Adapting them to long skinny cartridges is not really going to work.

Speedloaders, on the other hand, we’re designed for long skinny cartridges..

Kevin

 

[Tanners Owner]

Also check out revolver supply. They have differing thicknesses of 38 moonclips. I found that there is a huge difference in the cases warranting having several thicknesses on hand and separating my brass accordingly.

 

[Amp]

Just found TK Custom offers full moon for Starline brass.
We will see how they work when they get here.

 

[BC38]

I like Ranch Products moon clips myself - but I'm using them with 45ACP in a 1917, not 38's

 

[MWP1]

You’ll be very happy with the TK clips for Starline. Good choice.

 

[StrawHat]

I like Ranch Products moon clips myself - but I'm using them with 45ACP in a 1917, not 38's

Ranch Products was the original manufacturer of the full moon clip. They made them for S&W from drawings supplied by S&W.

Kevin

 

[Protocall_Design]

There is a great difference between moon clips for rimless and moonclips for rimmed brass.

The rimless (semi-auto calibers) have wide extractor grooves, more or less of a standard dimension. These can accommodate moonclips from .020 up to .040 thickness. Normally, rimless brass is more useable across different brands with the same clips.

The rimmed brass is grooved in whatever way the brass maker feels like, as the groove only serves as corner relief and has no standard specs like rimless. Rimmed is therefore more finicky about matching the moons to the brand of brass that goes in them. The moon thickness is usually .025. I've been shooting Starline brass with TKCustom Starline moons for years, and they are working great. One of the best things about using all Starline brass is that the grooves in the brass is all the same from 38 Short Colt to 38 Long Colt to 38 Special to 357 Mag. That means the same clips work for all of them.

 

[TAROMAN]

Moons for rimmed cases are seldom perfect.
Solution I settled on was to trim a bunch of 38 Special cases to .900".
Some call it 38 mid. Much easier loading.

Note. Image is of dummy test loads.
So scraped coating is not an issue.
Load for speed games:
Coated LRN GR:160 N310 GR:3.0 LO:710 HI:746 AVG:721 ES:36 SD:9.28 PF:115.36 FED SP MAG LOA:1.293"

 

[Amp]

I am happy to report the new clips work way better. They are stainless steel and a bit thicker than what comes standard.