Which Caddies for a newb?

[hacksaw556]

Here's the deal, have my first 3-gun match next month. Need shot-shell caddies. My belt is a basic 1.5" Wilderness Instructor belt. Would like to get something like the AP customs or taccom holders. Which of these would go best with my current belt. Yes I do plan to get a dedicated competition belt in the future...

[atvman400]

I personally really like the Man Mountain Engineering caddies. Great retention but still very easy to grab the shells out of. They are also very easy to load in the first place since they don't have the flat spring like the AP's. I have not used the taccom loaders so i'm not sure. If you go with the MME caddies the cheapest place to get them is from make ready pro shop. just my $.02 tho

[JamesY]

Since you're new, I suggest getting one of the load 2 holders. It's easier to learn. Taccom, carbon arms, AP Customs, etc. should all work fine. I have Taccom 6 ups and qualoads and like both. I hear many good things about the other companies too so you can't really go wrong. With the weak hand holders, you'll need hours of practice to get good at it. With the load 2, after 30 min, you should be pretty comfortable.

[tohm]

It depends on the style of loading you are going with. I prefer the Mountain Man i just got a couple of months ago.

[Jesse Tischauser]

The AP custom and taccom caddy's can be attached to any belt with the tek locks. Good luck!

Edited May 25, 2013 by Jesse Tischauser

[hacksaw556]

Thanks everyone!

[TRUBL]

HACKSAW.....like others said, there are a number of companies out there that sell caddies and other types of shell sholders. All are good, all have pro's and con's

The main thing about shotgun shell holders is not to actually get tied into one style of loading......learn 2 or three methods. One style will be your 'go to' loading which will be good for 90% of the stages you ever shoot....but knowing how to do another style will help you in the cases of that other 10%.

Loading 2 at a time is very popular, very fast and has a low learning curve and would be one to look at for sure. But don't over look the traditional caddies, loading off a side saddle or arm band for the 'special' circumstances. The more you get into this game, the more youa re going to learn and just being on this forum is going to help you a lot!

Tim

[JJSJ]

Hacksaw, good luck on your first shoot. I'm glad you asked about the caddies, I'm in the same boat as you trying to prepare for my first shoot.

[CJW]

Everything Tim said is right on---you need more than one method. That said, after trying for a couple of years with weak-hand load four to break 8 seconds, I turned to dual loading. The learning curve is low, and I think it is probably the right place to start to get up to speed. Tim's company TACCOM (I'm not affiliated; just a happy customer) makes some very nice, very affordable dual load clips. Also, once you get the hang of dual loading, it will be easy to step up to quad loading.

When you want to try good old weak-hand load four, the AP Custom 4x4's are pretty great and are a very good use of belt real estate.

[HotLoad]

Plus 1 for carbon arms

[bagdrag]

For weakhand loading, I like the TACCOM Quick Caddy a lot. Its minimalist design lets you get full control of the shells with your fingers.

I haven't tried dual or quad loading yet, but I'll probably be trying TACCOM Qualoads when I do.

[RJH]

Choate 6 shell. Something like $18 at midway.

[chevyoneton]

Choate 6 shell. Something like $18 at midway.

Thanks for saying it. These were my entry caddys into 3-Gun as well. Maybe not the best but they were available and inexpensive enough to get me going. I now have a Chamelion and love it but have a big stage next month and a couple of the Choates may be on my belt, somewhere (I have not quite figured it out yet). I should say that the Choates are six shell caddies which works well for me as I can't grab four anyway so two times three works well. Also, most anything you find should fit on a 1.5" belt especially if it has TecLoks.

Edited May 31, 2013 by chevyoneton

[Jesse Tischauser]

Choate 6 shell. Something like $18 at midway.

I started with those too. I think I still have one I use as an oh $hit caddy.

[BobS761]

I'm starting out with 2 Choates. And probably half a dozen in my pocket...

[ben b.]

If i was starting today, I'd get load 2 and skip the caddies.

[lunareclipse02]

Maybe go with a load 2 vest option. 24 shells ready to go, easy to load. Mark Otto makes a nice one. Thats all you will need and much quicker to load and easier to learn.

[larry weeks]

for some reason, I can't get the load two to work for me. I load four and I have small hands. knuckle to tip of middle finger is 3-1/2", hand is 3-1/4" wide. I thought I couldn't do it until Rob Romero insisted that I do. Then Lena Miculek spent a couple of minutes with me and all of a sudden I could. I did fumble once at Hornady, but that's the first mess in a year or so. BUT, I can't load four as fast as the load-two or quad-load guys can. On a great day I can hit 8 seconds for 8 rounds, most days, moving, I can be in the 9-10 range. Since I'm old and slow, it takes me longer to get to the next position so I have plenty of time to load.

[Feegee Dean Matlock]

I like the AP 4 4's leaves more room on the belt!!

Sent from Feegee's iPhone using Tapatalk

[dylanmj]

I am new to 3 gunning, but have already learned a lesson about shell caddies which pertains to the shells themselves. Not all 2 3/4" shells are sized the same!

The AP Customs give me the most round storage per inch of belt space, however, my Fiocchi slugs to not easily fit in them without binding. I tried a friend's carrier (not an AP Customs), and it was difficult to even try to load them. While I will continue to use a round dense carrier like AP for most of my rounds, I am planning on adding a carrier like the Carbon Arms Pinwheel that does not rely on the shell to be within a certain manufacturing tolerance to work properly. I'm thinking that even if I find slugs that I like, I could still run into problems down the road if I need to borrow shells from someone, or as is common right now, have to buy brand whatever because that is all I can find.

[Akkid17]

Do you know any of the shooters that will be there? If so, see if someone will let you borrow some caddies for the match or even a week before so you can practice up. A good friend and I started around the same time and the 3-gun scene in alaska was pretty sparse and we didn't know many people so we had so somewhat struggle through gear choices until we started talking to people and then found this forum. I started with ccw 6 shell caddies and it was a mistake, I either had to pull 3 then 3 or pull 4 then 2 and I fumbled a lot (funny video but frustrating shooting). Load two wasn't as widely known and not many products were out there for it so weak hand load four it was.

If I had a buddy that was wanting to start out in three gun I'd tell him to hold off on buying all the super cool gear til he had a couple of matches under his belt and borrow my (or another generous shooter's) gear, then start making some decisions as to where he wants to go; loading wise, division wise and frequency he wants to shoot and go from there.

[LSnSC]

I started out with the Choate 6 rounders. They work well and are inexpensive. I added tek loks to mine so I could take them off when I didnt need them. I tried several brands of the aluminum ones and the shells will bind in them occasionally. I didnt think they worked any better than the Choates, especially considering the price. JMHO.

I moved to load two with an Otto vest and was able to speed up my reloads by about a third. Mr otto is a realy nice guy to work with and his vest is first rate. I still use my old caddies on a small stage if I think I might just need a few extra rounds.

I shot the tarheel match with a forum member who makes Kydex 4 round caddies. They looked and worked well and are very economical. You might want to shoot Bigjimmy57 a message.

[hacksaw556]

Lots of good info here, thanks for all of the replies! Gonna take a good hard look at the Taccom and AP offerings...Leaning towards load 2 for the time being.

[1911 S.I.S.sy]

Another one for carbon arms. Easy to configure for either strong or week hand load 2.

[Morgan Patrick]

I'm losing sleep over changing to the load two method... I've weak hand loaded from a shell caddie for a few years but everyone seems to be moving to the load 2... So the carbon arms vest seems to be the most common... Any downsides or disadvantages?