Pros and Cons of 4 or 6 round PM SG strippers

[swandme]

I have gone back and forth and can't decide what to use 4 or 6 round strippers for the SG

I can usually load 4 without dropping one .

I shoot Tac Ops with a 1100 Tac and HM w/ a Super Nova no pistol grip on either so far .

I have been loading strong hand by rolling the gun to the side .

I have tried the Week hand load and it does not feel natural to me .

Any advice and video clips would be great.

SWandME

[FishingFool]

I have gone back and forth and can't decide what to use 4 or 6 round strippers for the SG

I can usually load 4 without dropping one .

I shoot Tac Ops with a 1100 Tac and HM w/ a Super Nova no pistol grip on either so far .

I have been loading strong hand by rolling the gun to the side .

I have tried the Week hand load and it does not feel natural to me .

Any advice and video clips would be great.

SWandME

[DeweyH]

I started out using 6 rounders because I won them. So I only load 3 at a time since I have to make two swipes anyway. I think that given the chance to do it over I would still go with the 6 rounders because I can get 24 rounds in the same linear space as I can get 16 rounds using 4 rounders. I also like the advantage of loading fewer because I think I have better control over them. It is faster to load 4 at a time though.

[swandme]

Thanks so far

Keep it coming.

[Jesse Tischauser]

There are a bunch of threads on this here forum about weakhand reloading. That video of Rob Romero is the best description on film that I have seen on how to load weakhand. Kurt Miller shot a video a while back as well which we are anxiously awaiting. Kurt loads slightly different than Rob so there will be more ideas on how to do it right for all if us to try to duplicate.

I don't think it matters which caddie you go with as long as you practice a BUNCH. If you only run 4 rounders and have to shoot a 35 round shotgun stage you will have caddies hanging off your hat. The cheap choate 6 rounders are hard to beat for the money.

There is no secret trick, tip or caddy to get you reloading faster. You just have to practice. I started 3 gun last August and have probably reloaded my shotgun during practice about 40 hours and I can load 8 in under 6 seconds during practice. I am still working on getting it that faster EVERY time. Getting under 8 seconds for 8 rounds is very doable and very competitive especially if you don't miss the targets and have to reload extra rounds.

Good luck and stick with it. It feels really fast once you get the hang of it.

I used to have family that lived in Eagle River. Beautiful town!

[No.343]

Pros: The 4 rounders look good on shapely women.

Cons: My gut done lopped over the 4 rounders and 6 rounders are the only ones I can hope to see.

Perhaps more important to me is the fact that with the 6 rounders I can plan on using only four, and have the spare two rounds in the extremely rare event that I drop a round. That way I don't have to change my loading plan.

[Xfactor]

I started 3 gun last August ... and I can load 8 in under 6 seconds

Wow... you da man!

[TruePunisher]

Perhaps more important to me is the fact that with the 6 rounders I can plan on using only four, and have the spare two rounds in the extremely rare event that I drop a round. That way I don't have to change my loading plan.

This is the reason I use the 6 round caddies. Even if I never plan to use the extra two rounds, I still have then for that one time I do need them.

[CutterH]

I have gone back and forth and can't decide what to use 4 or 6 round strippers for the SG

I was just faced with the same dilemma when I ordered mine. I decided to go with the 6-rounders because of the added capacity. I can load 4 at a time reliably, so it's nice to have the extra 2 in each caddie for additional reloads or slugs. They are definitely less comfortable when kneeling or bending over, but I feel it's worth the extra capacity.

I have tried the Week hand load and it does not feel natural to me .

It felt weird to me at first as well, but with practice it gets much better. Plenty of people load stronghand and do just fine, but for me it's faster weakhand. Much of that is the time that I save when getting back on target.

Cutter

[Jesse Tischauser]

I started 3 gun last August ... and I can load 8 in under 6 seconds

Wow... you da man!

Thanks. That's in practice with no boom boom just simulating trigger pull with the safety on. I can beat the par timer getting back on target when its set at 6 but that's after 150 or so practice rounds at 8, 7, 6.5, 6.3, etc. as I work my way smoother and faster.

Match speed and average speed is probably 7-8 seconds/8 rounds.

Edited April 15, 2010 by jtischauser

[mlmiller1]

It seems to me that 4 rd caddy's would be an advantage if you are going to load 4rds only because you just go to the bottom, take them all. If you are trying to pull 4 out of a fully loaded 6 rd caddy, how much time does it take to see or feel to get just the right number? Plus trying to get your fingers under the 4th out of 6 is hard. Now, having said that, I load 3 at a time out of a 6rd caddy because I just haven't mastered the 4 at a time. I can hit the crack between #3 & #4 most times but still, it is slower than just grabbing 4 from one where you can go to the bottom & get them all. If I was starting over, I would buy 4 rd caddys & learn to do it right. Then after getting that down, I might add a couple of 6s out of the way just for extra capacity, big stage capacity or OOPS backup.

I'm having enough trouble learning to load weak hand. hahahaha. If I can get that down, I'll start working on 4 at a time & I'll just put 4 in my 6rd caddys. Then I can hit the bottom, get them all. It is all about practice, I think.

Just my opinion, of course.

MLM

[Jesse Tischauser]

It seems to me that 4 rd caddy's would be an advantage if you are going to load 4rds only because you just go to the bottom, take them all. If you are trying to pull 4 out of a fully loaded 6 rd caddy, how much time does it take to see or feel to get just the right number? Plus trying to get your fingers under the 4th out of 6 is hard. Now, having said that, I load 3 at a time out of a 6rd caddy because I just haven't mastered the 4 at a time. I can hit the crack between #3 & #4 most times but still, it is slower than just grabbing 4 from one where you can go to the bottom & get them all. If I was starting over, I would buy 4 rd caddys & learn to do it right. Then after getting that down, I might add a couple of 6s out of the way just for extra capacity, big stage capacity or OOPS backup.

I'm having enough trouble learning to load weak hand. hahahaha. If I can get that down, I'll start working on 4 at a time & I'll just put 4 in my 6rd caddys. Then I can hit the bottom, get them all. It is all about practice, I think.

Just my opinion, of course.

MLM

Good points Mark.

I don't have any trouble hitting the 4 rounds in a 6 rounder as 4 rounds is just about as far as my traffic finger can reach but I can see that the 4 rounders would be more consistent. In the heat of the HPSC I found myself with 5 rounds in my hand on a stage when I only needed 3. That cost me some time because as I grabbed shells it didn't feel right so I took another look and thought to myself "holy $hit you can't load 5 at a time". So as slow as my brain processes info during a stage it probably cost me 2 seconds to decide to try to stuff all 5 in the gun which I did slowly.

I need to buy some 4 rounders to try.

Edited April 15, 2010 by jtischauser

[smokshwn]

Just for arguements sake you could fill the 6 rounders with only four rounds to make the grab easier. This would work on most stages, then when the stage has a higher round count you would still have the extra capacity of the six rounders without giving up more belt real estate.

[Pstmstr]

Saw a guy at High Plains with a block of wood in the bottom of 6 rounders to make the 4 sit higher. He was very fast. I just loaded 1 at a time from my 6 rounders at about a minute each.

[Jesse Tischauser]

Just for arguements sake you could fill the 6 rounders with only four rounds to make the grab easier. This would work on most stages, then when the stage has a higher round count you would still have the extra capacity of the six rounders without giving up more belt real estate.

I tried that but it doesn't work the same unless the 4 rounds are on top. I like the block of wood idea that Mike (pstmstr) mentioned. I actually bought one 4 round california competition works caddy but it always tries to come off of my belt when I pull the shells out of it. I don;t like the spacers either. I guess I need to drill a hole though it and screw the bottom of the clip down. I just hate having to modify stuff that I just bought because I lack patience.

[mpeltier]

I have 4 of the MME 4 rounders on my belt. My preffered location is right in front and 6 rounders just plain pinch in all the wrong places when ya gotta squat. plus i load four weekhanded so four rounders just make the most sense for me. I do have a couple six rounders I keep in my range bag. They get loaned more than i use them.

[Jesse Tischauser]

Alright you talked me into it. I just ordered 2 Man Mountain Engineering caddies and 1 Progressive Machine 4 round caddy.

You guys just cost me $200.

[smokshwn]

Jesse,

It is pretty easy to mount up TekLoks on either the choate's or CCW shell caddies. It eliminates the come off the belt issue.

[Jesse Tischauser]

Jesse,

It is pretty easy to mount up TekLoks on either the choate's or CCW shell caddies. It eliminates the come off the belt issue.

I hadn't thought about that but I may give it a try.

Maybe I should just screw it to the front of my Bladetech AR Mag pouch.

[Sean.McCanne]

I use Choate 6 rounders consistently. I load 3 at a time most of the time, but I'll load 4 if necessary. I'd rather load 3 and 3 than 4 and 3 because I dropped one. Having the extra couple has been known to be helpful as well.

I've only found one issue with the Choates. I like the belt clips on them, but they have no spacers or extra room like the Cali Comps. I bought some buckshot before HPSC that didn't fit because they were capped, not crimped. Luckily I was able to trade them out, so I didn't have any issues (Thanks Mike!).

[J-Ho]

After 4 or 6 rounds, I don't care what strippers I use!

[Jesse Tischauser]

I use Choate 6 rounders consistently. I load 3 at a time most of the time, but I'll load 4 if necessary. I'd rather load 3 and 3 than 4 and 3 because I dropped one. Having the extra couple has been known to be helpful as well.

I've only found one issue with the Choates. I like the belt clips on them, but they have no spacers or extra room like the Cali Comps. I bought some buckshot before HPSC that didn't fit because they were capped, not crimped. Luckily I was able to trade them out, so I didn't have any issues (Thanks Mike!).

Well heck all the OKC gang is here.

I have tight caddy issues with my fiocchi low recoil slugs. Maybe I'll convert my CCW caddy over to my slug caddy.

[Jesse Tischauser]

After 4 or 6 rounds, I don't care what strippers I use!

[Vespid_Wasp]

I just had a learning experience myself regarding this issue.

Initially I bought the six shell caddies because more is always better... right?

Except I found that in the process of getting into any sort of awkward shooting position, the six shell caddies really limited my ability to bend at the waist. Then there was the issue of occasionally grabbing 3 or 5 instead of 4 like I was practicing to master. And I thought about how handy it would be to have extra shells in the carrier in case I needed them, but if you do any movement besides walking there is a good chance you will bounce a shell out of the caddy. They aren't supported well unless the caddy is full.

So I bought 3 or 4 of the four shell caddies and was impressed at how much easier it was to grab the shells the same way every time, when I wasn't trying to index my way down to the fourth shell.

I plan on keeping some of the six shell caddies as additionals for those LONG shotgun stages, because even when I fumble a load from the belt, it is faster than I am from an side saddle or an arm band.... but the four shell caddies work best for me.

[RiggerJJ]

get both and learn to use both...

A 6'er works great if you need 6 slugs select loaded throughout the stage...

4's work for most aplications, but...its nice to have options.

jj