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Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

How many moon clips and holders do I need?


Mcfoto

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Well, I warned you in my other thread that the newb moon clip questions were coming. ;o} Thanks for the suggestions on type, etc. but I'm trying to figure out a number I should aim at for to have on hand. I suppose I could take my normal match round count and divide by 8. Also, I see most folks come with enough mooned up for the whole match but a few take the time to de-moon and re-moon between a couple stages. What's the thoughts on this?

 

To combine threads, I see most moon clip holders come in 4's (and yikes, $140 a pop). I assume if I get the talls, I can stack two moons and carry eight. Is this enough?

 

Thanks in advance.

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Well, get what you can afford to start off with, i'd say you should have a minimum of 20 high quality moonclips. TK Custom can hook this up.

 

I used to load enough clips for the whole match, then I realized how much time I wasted after the match at home sitting in boardem loading and unloading 60 moons.

 

Now I just load as I go during the match, it gives me the opportunity to pay attention to each piece of brass and moonclip right before it hits my belt. If a moon is out of whack, grab a new one and go. Once you have a pile of bent clips , repair them and put them back into rotation. 

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I have enough to go through a match that way I can check through the cylinder on my revolver. I had some that would go through the moon clip checker but would not go in the cylinder. If it is a two day match I load for the first day and then at the hotel load for the next day. At a match you cannot check using your revolver cylinder as you probably already know. 

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I would say 20 is a minimum number. Check the TK website for stainless moons made specifically for starline brass. And spend the money on the moon clip checker. I check my moons when I load them, then as they go on my belt when I'm in the hole. It takes any question of proper fit out of play. 

 

I'd rather have 20 proper fitting stainless moons than 200 cheap ones.

 

And yes, 8 moons is more than enough for a stage. 

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Contact Dave Hearthco here on this forum.  He makes primo moon clips and can be bought in bulk at good prices.  But they are still expensive.

A 4-5 post North Mountain Carrier at 4wheelguns.com is fine.

I like to have enough to get through a whole match day, of whatever size you expect,  without having to remoon anything during the match.

I personally have 110, would equal 22 stages.  At the minimum if you go to a Level III 5 per stage x 13 stages would equal 65 moon clips.  

Club matches with 8 stages would equal 40 moon clips.  

Especially if you use TK, Hearthco or some other "tight" moon clips you don't want to have to remoon them during a match.

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James Austin's moon clip server is also something to consider along with 2 of the North Mountain single posts.
This is what I'm running.

I bought the moonclip server this summer on a whim. I like it -way- more than I thought I would. It makes the last reload of the stage as fast as the first. It's a little slow to load, so you need to pair it with a couple Kydex posts.

I have the Kydex holders behind the hip. I only use them at make ready and on those stages where all your clips start on the table.

The moonclip server is on sale. I hope he's not done with making them

http://www.moonclipserver.com
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I get by pretty well with 6 single clip holders on my belt, a 4 post North Mountain is a excellent unit as well 

 

As for moon clips the longer your brass and the less pointy your bullets the better they need to be. I run short colt brass and a coated 147 round nose that is a pretty pointy profile, I have several kinds of moon clips and I honestly can not tell the difference during reloads. I have some that are super tight and some of the revolver supply cheep ones. the Revolver Supply ones are much looser than the tight TKs but so far I can tell no difference in loading speed or reliability.  

 

For how many to get I would say how many can you afford. having a whole match mooned is very nice, totally not required but its more fun to gab on match day and moon in front of the tv

 

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1 hour ago, MikeBurgess said:

I get by pretty well with 6 single clip holders on my belt, a 4 post North Mountain is a excellent unit as well.

 

Dude, I miss a whole lot more than you do. ;0)

 

I’ve got an 8 post single from Speed Beez on my Amazon wish list but for whatever reason, Speed Beez doesn’t get a lot of love here. I already got a 10 pack of their .25 moons to try and a tk mooner and demooner tools.

 

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I made this moon clip holder for $20.  $10 for steel rod from Home Depot, and $10 for a sheet of 090 Kydex on Ebay.  Custom made means you add as many posts as you want.

I don't like to load moon clips during a match so I bring enough to shoot the match, and I always bring a loader/unloader.

IMG_3860.JPG

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I got about 50 that I load before a match. Very heavy at the start of the day if I bring all of them, like yesterday when I shot two matches back to back. Ended up loading extra anyway. But just because the round count says such and such does not mean you'll only shoot so many. And it's not that often that I use full moons. But you'll need at least enough to complete one stage, and I've only ever used 7 once because 2 fell off as I was fumbling trying to run and reload. 32 shots is max for a USPSA stage but again you're usually not going to use only 3 full moons for that stage, usually 4-5 depending on how many you can squeeze in to a single position. Always better to have makeup shots and reload while on the move. My buddy has 10 TK clips but doesn't get up to reset as much as me. I like to reset as much as possible, so I just dump my empties and partials in the box and don't worry about them until I get home. It might take a while to collect a lot of moons, but it's worth it. Especially when people step on them. I used to throw the bent ones away but now I give them to my friend that only has 10 and he can play with them if he likes.

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I made mine myself as well.

Simple aluminum L-profile for a few bucks, some aluminum rod, cut down, some countersunk magnets, some black paint... and your're done.

I screwed it onto a DAA outer belt.

Fun to do as well...

mc6.JPG

MC 1.JPG

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2 hours ago, WFargo said:

I made mine myself as well.

Simple aluminum L-profile for a few bucks, some aluminum rod, cut down, some countersunk magnets, some black paint... and your're done.

I screwed it onto a DAA outer belt.

Fun to do as well...

mc6.JPG

MC 1.JPG

That looks super professional. How'd you get it to bend though? Are the flats where the posts go just not bent, and the spots in between the fingers where its actually bent at?

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@ Swordfish, I just put one 'flat' at a time in the vice, and bent it by hand ?  just checking as I go, if the bend was enought to fit my tiny waste....?

I won't be going in to business with this stuff, and I'm in the Netherlands anyways.

 

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On a side note... I did something similar for a buddy of mine who wanted to start using his Python for some Steel Plate shooting, using speed loaders...

He didn't like the simple 'plastic' cups to hold his speedloaders and wanted something similar to mine, so I made him one as well... ?

 

speedloader holder 2.JPG

speedloader holder.JPG

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3 hours ago, WFargo said:

On a side note... I did something similar for a buddy of mine who wanted to start using his Python for some Steel Plate shooting, using speed loaders...

He didn't like the simple 'plastic' cups to hold his speedloaders and wanted something similar to mine, so I made him one as well... ?

 

speedloader holder 2.JPG

speedloader holder.JPG

That looks really nice. I imagine with the Comp 3 Speed loaders this would work fantastic. 

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