Speed Loaders vs Speed Strips

[blackeagle603]

Mike, The entry/exit geometries are tighter on a snub. Smaller frames but speedloader bodies still have a certain amount of lenght that needs to clear the grip w/out getting cocked and hung up.. Esp if the grip is a bit tall or fat near the release. This is particularly common with some rubber/molded grips on snubs.

As for strips most folks don't know how to take advantage of them. There are tricks with strips that don't take much fine motor skill. I can drop two in the cylinder at a time, peel, rotate and repeat. Can do tactical reloads too to 'top off' a cylinder.

[Erik]

I use strips. For convenient and easy reloads, they're great. I can have a dozen of them in my pocket instead of a box of ammo, and reloads takes very little thought. Easy to carry a lot of them in your pocket, and convenient to reload with. That said, I use them for competitions when the reloads isn't done on time. If I needed to do a fast reload, I'd use a speedloader. Or moonclips, if possible.

[Netpackrat]

Moon clips.

Agreed for weapons that can utilize them.

The others can have their cylinders machined to utilize them.

If you get speed loaders, get the Safariland ones that you just push into the cylinder and they automatically release without needing to turn a knob. I find them to be superior to the HKS type.

How would a snub be any different than a revolver with a 4" barrel? The actions are the same although you don't have the longer barrel to work with - it should still be almost as fast as a 4" barrel. But since I've never tried to speed-load a snubbie, I'll have to defer to anyone who has done so on a semi-regular basis.

A shorter barrel means less room for an ejector rod, and in the case of a snub, the rod can't be long enough to fully extract the cases from the chambers. So, you may have some issues getting the spent cases out of the way. The geometry thing for inserting a speed loader full of fresh ammo is more of an issue with J frame size revolvers than anything to do with the barrel length. The shorter crane means there is less space between the cylinder and the side of the frame and/or grips.

[JAG2955]

I've always liked the idea of trying to get quarter-moon clips onto a speed strip. I recall seeing that they made quarter moon clips for the M1917 revolver, but I've never seen them for sale anywhere.

If I ever get a S&W .45acp or a Dan Wesson 7460, that's likely what I'd try to do.

[Rich]

Got two revolvers. I use moon clips with my S&W 9mm J-frame, and speedloaders (HKS) with my Taurus .38.

Never tried speed strips, and probably wouldn't know what to do if I ever found one.

Fast enough for this old fart.

[Aglifter]

Be sure to experiment w. the carry version of those safariland speed loaders. I have some, and found them a bit too difficult to hit reliably - I find the HKS more reliable, even though they do require some fine motor skill to work.

[Lokidude]

I carry both. A pair of speedloaders goes in a carrier on my left side. A pair of speed strips is rubber banded together to lie flat and rides in my back left pocket. Speedloaders get used first. Theyre FAR faster.

[Netpackrat]

Be sure to experiment w. the carry version of those safariland speed loaders. I have some, and found them a bit too difficult to hit reliably - I find the HKS more reliable, even though they do require some fine motor skill to work.

When I was still shooting a revolver (Model 19), I found the opposite to be the case. The Safarilands are harder to load than the HKS, but loading the revolver from the speed loader, the Safariland had the advantage in both insertion and release. I had both, and ended up giving the HKS I had to a friend. They held the cartridges too loosely, so getting all 6 aligned with the chambers was tricky.

[Denis]

...the Safariland had the advantage in both insertion and release. I had both, and ended up giving the HKS I had to a friend. They held the cartridges too loosely, so getting all 6 aligned with the chambers was tricky.

I don't have a Safariland for comparison, but I do find the HKS finicky to use. What is very handy is a cartridge board for loading the loader... but this can be carried too far.

[Aglifter]

Might be the guns. I was trying them on my 329NG.