DIY 9mm revolver moon clips?

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evan123

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Could not find any retailer with moon clips in stock for a revolver I ordered over Christmas. Anyone have any experience or links to a how-to about moon clips?

I have a few ideas and access to a drill press. I think it'll be fun to experiment with a few.

I'll post my results.
 
They need to be made from a spring tempered steel, kept quite flat and the hole centers located accurately enough around enough that a drill press isn't really an ideal tool.

The sort of steel used counts too. It must-have a spring temper or be made from steel which you can heat treat after making them. And doing this on thin tool steel is fussy do.

So all in all most of us are better off just buying them regardless of cost.
 
Right on guys, I emailed TK Custom and he mentioned to check out Blueline Solutions. They have stock currently at $9.99. Pretty much the same as selectshooting supplies, but Blueline is closer to me for shipping.
 
evan123 said:
Right on guys, I emailed TK Custom and he mentioned to check out Blueline Solutions. They have stock currently at $9.99. Pretty much the same as selectshooting supplies, but Blueline is closer to me for shipping.
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Yep, I'm pretty happy with my 9mm 9261, but the cost of the moon clips killed my desire to use it for competitions. I bought 100 moon clips for my S&W 625 for $70CDN/100 and even the ones for my 929 only cost $150US/100. So the 9261 is just a fun range toy for casual plinking.
 
Thanks for the experience VanMan, I might just have to buy an Electro Deposit Machine for machining my own at the price of $10 a clip. Haha, I might try making my own. I've seen some Americans bragging how cheap it is to buy and use plastic moon clips.
 
The moon clips for my S&W 610 cost me less than $20 US for 25 clips. The Alfa Proj ones are $9 - $10 each! That's the only reason I haven't pick up one of those revolvers yet. If you happen to have one of the factory clips for the revolver then perhaps you can take it to a metal fab shop that has an EDM wire cutting machine. They could give you an idea on the cost of making up a few hundred clips - it might be a worthwhile project that a person could make a few dollars doing.
 
As mentioned, you need a special type of steel to make this moonclip. Hardness and spring-action and special tools required for consistency. Without these factors, anything you make will be a disposable moonclip. Without tooling, you might end up with off-centered rounds that will not drop into the cylinder.
 
juancarlos said:
Did you try TK custom out of the US?
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I saw TK Custom mentioned in another forum so I called them directly. They do make them, but only in stainless steel @$7.50 US each (not listed on their web site due to low demand). I asked Eli about a bulk discount. They may do 20% on an order of 100. Too bad our dollar still sucks right now.
 
Gents

I have Stainless a 4.25" 9mm revolver that uses moon clips. I did a lot of research, and this little gun seems to be a very good value for the $'s spent.

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You are correct, moon clips are not cheap, but as stated the heat treating of the metal, and the tooling required to make them is not straight forward or inexpensive to come by.

Further local retailers are not any better in their pricing, and the replacement clips they are using are from TK Custom any way. (it says so on the clips)

I got tired of the local none sense and broke down, gave Eli @ TK custom a call, and ordered 20 count plus a moon clip loading tool directly from them.

It was not cheap, but I want to shoot this one more, and some times what you save on one end, you end up spending on the other.

In this case, an S&W moon clip revolver is twice to three time the cost. Now I am not saying an Alfa Proj is as good as an S&W, but I am not sure its 3 times better. (shrug)

Further If you shooting 45 acp, your ammunition cost are a least double to 9mm, even if you reload.

So at times you take the good with the bad.

I have about a dozen moon clips already for this revolver, and with the additional 20 that will give me 192 rounds before I need to load the clips.

I will say this, TK custom makes a very nice moon clip!! here is a pic of a few

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If interested I will keep you guys informed as thing progress.

On the saving some money front, these seem to be very similar in dimensions to the S&W K frame, so getting duty style holsters inexpensively should not be an issue.

The only issue I am having is finding a way to put the moonclips on my belt in an effective, and efficient mannor.

If any of you have any ideas, I am all ears.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to any thoughts you might have.

regards

AbH
 
Another company is revolver supply company. I got some from them for my sp101 9mm. Making your own, the steel also has to be the right thickness within a couple of thou. If they are thicker the cylinder will bind, and different guns use different thicknesses. A smith 625 moonclip is too thick for my 45acp redhawk
 
dogzilla said:
Another company is revolver supply company. I got some from them for my sp101 9mm. Making your own, the steel also has to be the right thickness within a couple of thou. If they are thicker the cylinder will bind, and different guns use different thicknesses. A smith 625 moonclip is too thick for my 45acp redhawk
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I order all the moon clips for my 625 and 929 from there too. Will they make moon clips for the Project Alpha?
 
Gents

For what its work Rusty Wood was/is getting out of the Alfa Proj line of revolvers.

They have not had moon clips for some time, and I just checked their website and all they have left for the Alfa Proj are some grips, and the spring kits.

My Alfa Proj. moon-clip order from TK Custom is sitting at the post office waiting for me to pick it up.

When ordering from TK Custom, expect to pay $7.50 US$ per clip. Its not cheap (especially with the exchange rate), but if the new ones are anything like the previous ones I have used, they are top notch!!

TK Custom has been making moon clips for a long time, and seem to have it down to an art form.

Further, I did not see the Alfa Proj moon clip, on their web site, so I gave them a call, and they do make and sell it. It would seem as this clip is not a large volume seller its not listed.

I hope that was helpful.

regards

AbH
 
Suther said:
Rusty wood trading co. (Sponsor) used to stock these. Probably still do?
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Rusty Woods is out of them, and probably getting out of the Project Alpha product line. I think there's probably a couple of Canadian suppliers around for the moon clips, but the problem is still the ~$10/ea price compared to moon clips for more main stream and popular revolvers like the S&W 625 where the costs can be as low as $0.80/ea. While the demand volumes for the Project Alpha moon clips will never approach those of the S&W 625, was hoping to find at least a better cost. TK Custom would be ok, except for our lousy exchange rate right now.
 
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