Favorite Speed Loader

[sharps54]

Screwball that does look pretty sturdy and after researching I see folks saying the LCR will fire loose rounds fine so I suppose I’m being overly cautious. I know you would have to probably manually knock out the cases if you shoot loose 9mm but multiple reloads are very unlikely for the use case of these revolvers.

Does the LCR have an administrative way to turn the cylinder without firing? In a revolver with a hammer you can pull the hammer back and spin the cylinder to ensure the clip doesn’t bind, I used to do this with every clip after loading them with the 625. That kept me from having a nasty surprise on a stage and I would want to do it with any moon clip I carried as a reload.

[Screwball]

I know the LCR is able to fire 9mm without clips, but as you said, will have to poke out the rounds. For a clip being carried in the gun, I wouldn’t have any hesitation that it wouldn’t be fine. Eject the first group out as a clip. If someone didn’t want to carry loaded moonclips, you’d have an empty gun to reload with a clip of empties (or empties/live rounds). I’m sure there are speed strips that hold five 9mm.

For the LCR... no idea. I only compared my father’s .357 LCR to my 642-1 once (stainless framed LCRs are A LOT heavier). It is a vastly different trigger pull, so your guess is as good as mine. Likely could do it on an LCRx, but not sure.

I’ve tried doing it with my 642-1 and snap caps, but not really too comfortable holding back the trigger slightly to unlock the cylinder (I’d definitely consider others opinion on this, but just seems too much risk of ND). Personally, I’d think you’d have a hard enough time getting the rounds into the cylinder with a bent clip... as well as closing the cylinder.

But goes back to care with the moonclips. Those not familiar with the BMT loader (at least the 9mm ones... rimmed calibers are slightly different), it is a shoot for your rounds to travel, which goes towards a crank that you place your clip is held by a magnet. If done right, you rotate the crank as your rounds get loaded on the clip (unloads by flipping the base over and rotating the crank on that side; empties just fly off). If the clip is bent, you aren’t easily going to load it, as the clip will not be in line with the extractor groove. It feels so easy with unbent clips that you’d notice something is up.

[sharps54]

When I bought my 442’s (factory cut for moon clips) I did play with them a bit but I have a 649 so I had a J frame with a hammer to manipulate when testing if the cylinder would spin.

That BMT loader sounds like the way to go. Use it and carry a 9mm speedstrip as a backup and the 9mm stub does sound a lot more reasonable.

[Chuck Whitlock]

I’ve tried doing it with my 642-1 and snap caps, but not really too comfortable holding back the trigger slightly to unlock the cylinder (I’d definitely consider others opinion on this, but just seems too much risk of ND). Personally, I’d think you’d have a hard enough time getting the rounds into the cylinder with a bent clip... as well as closing the cylinder.

The only way I can think of to do this with a "hammerless" wheelgun is to put your middle finger behind the trigger as you apply pressure with your trigger finger. Hopefully, it will allow you to depress the trigger enough to release the bolt and rotate the cylinder, but would be largely dependent on how thick your finger is. I'd be doubly sure of a safe backstop as well.

[Screwball]

The only way I can think of to do this with a "hammerless" wheelgun is to put your middle finger behind the trigger as you apply pressure with your trigger finger. Hopefully, it will allow you to depress the trigger enough to release the bolt and rotate the cylinder, but would be largely dependent on how thick your finger is. I'd be doubly sure of a safe backstop as well.

Just tried it with my 642-1...

Need to use my pinky, but can work. Still not too fond of it, but can see it being better than just lightly holding the trigger.