![My](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/My_.357_Mag_S_%26_W_model_66-2_%285%29.jpg)
A speedloader is a
device used to reduce the time and effort needed to reload a firearm. Speedloaders come in a variety of forms for reloading
revolvers
A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six ro ...
, or the
magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
s used with other types of firearms such as
rifle
A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...
s and
shotgun
A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...
s.
Generally, speedloaders are used for loading multiple
chamber
Chamber or the chamber may refer to:
In government and organizations
* Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests
*Legislative chamber, in politics
* Debate chamber, the space or room that houses delib ...
s of a revolver simultaneously. Such speedloaders are used for revolvers having either swing-out
cylinder
A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base.
A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...
s or top-break cylinders. Revolvers having fixed cylinders must be unloaded and loaded one chamber at a time. Speedloaders of different designs are used for loading the fixed tubular magazines of
shotgun
A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...
s and
rifle
A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...
s. Other speedloader designs are used to load the magazines (fixed or detachable) of
semi-automatic firearm
A semi-automatic firearm, also called a self-loading or autoloading firearm (fully automatic and selective fire firearms are also variations on self-loading firearms), is a repeating firearm whose action mechanism ''automatically'' loads a follow ...
s.
Revolver speedloaders
Circular reloaders
The modern revolver circular speedloader holds a full cylinder complement of
cartridge
Cartridge may refer to:
Objects
* Cartridge (firearms), a type of modern ammunition
* ROM cartridge, a removable component in an electronic device
* Cartridge (respirator), a type of filter used in respirators
Other uses
* Cartridge (surname), a ...
s in a secure fashion, spaced in a circular configuration so as to allow the cartridges to drop simultaneously into the cylinder easily (although non-circular types such as
half moon clip
A clip is a device that is used to store multiple rounds of ammunition together as a unit for insertion into the magazine or cylinder of a firearm. This speeds up the process by loading the firearm with several rounds at once, rather than one at ...
s are very common as well). A mechanism is provided that allows the cartridges to be released from the speedloader when loaded, so that when it is removed, the cartridges remain in the cylinder. The most common type of speedloader uses a rotating latch. Another type slides the cartridges out an open side; and a third type has a latch that releases when pressed.
Revolver speedloaders make the process of reloading an appropriately matched revolver much faster than reloading one round at a time (provided that ready-loaded speedloaders are available). Swing-out and top-break revolvers are designed to eject all cartridges with one movement, and speedloaders allow loading with but a single additional step. They also provide a convenient way to carry ammunition for a revolver. Speedloaders do not, however, allow revolvers to be reloaded as fast as
semiautomatic handguns without considerably more practice.
Prior to the introduction of speedloaders for revolvers, reloading of revolvers was always accomplished by manually loading each cartridge into each chamber from cartridge loops on a belt or
bandolier
A bandolier or a bandoleer is a pocketed belt for holding either individual bullets, or belts of ammunition. It is usually slung sash-style over the shoulder and chest, with the ammunition pockets across the midriff and chest. Though functio ...
, a cartridge pouch, or other cartridge holder, such as a pocket. In fact, hand-loading is still the most common way of loading a revolver, speedloaders being mostly restricted to competition shooters and those who feel that they need more firepower for their personal defense revolver, since although speedloaders are useful for carrying one or several reloads at ready, one must load the speedloaders themselves prior to using.
Prior to the introduction of modern metallic cartridges (i.e. 1860–1879), certain models of older black powder cap and ball revolvers could be used with multiple replaceable cylinders functioning as "speedloaders". It was however generally easier to simply buy a second revolver than to locate a cylinder alone, not to mention faster than swapping cylinders. As the reloading process for a cap and ball revolver was lengthy and time-consuming, carrying already-loaded cylinders with
percussion cap
The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise t ...
s placed on cylinder nipples was a considerable improvement in reloading time, although this is primarily a "trick" used by modern shooters who are used to having numerous shots available in short time with little work. When "spare cylinders" were carried, this practice was primarily done on
Remington revolvers, as their cylinders were easily removable and were held by a cylinder pin, unlike the early
Colt revolver
Colt's Manufacturing Company, LLC (CMC, formerly Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company) is an American firearms manufacturer, founded in 1855 by Samuel Colt and is now a subsidiary of Czech holding company Colt CZ Group. It is the succ ...
s, which were held together by a wedge that went through the cylinder pin.
The first revolver speedloader patented was that of William H. Bell in 1879.
Moon clips and half moon clips
Moon clip
A moon clip is a ring-shaped or star-shaped piece of metal designed to hold multiple cartridges together as a unit, for simultaneous insertion and extraction from a revolver cylinder. Moon clips may either hold an entire cylinder's worth of cartri ...
s and
half moon clip
A clip is a device that is used to store multiple rounds of ammunition together as a unit for insertion into the magazine or cylinder of a firearm. This speeds up the process by loading the firearm with several rounds at once, rather than one at ...
s are special speedloaders for use with revolvers that chamber rimless cartridges, such as
9×19mm Parabellum
The 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Parabellum or 9mm Luger or simply 9mm) is a rimless, tapered firearms cartridge.
Originally designed by Austrian firearm designer Georg Luger in 1901, it is widely considered the most popular handgun a ...
or
.45 ACP
The .45 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol) or .45 Auto (11.43×23mm) is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After successful military trials, it ...
. Double-action revolvers are designed to use rimmed cartridges, and the extractors are incapable of removing rimless cartridges. Because of this fact, a different method of extraction must be used. Moon clips are a full circle, and hold a full cylinder of cartridges, while half moon clips are semicircles that hold half a cylinder full of cartridges.
Speed strips
Another variation of the speedloader for revolvers is the Speed Strip introduced by
Bianchi International. Intended as an alternative to loose rounds in a pocket or dump pouch, it holds six cartridges in a re-usable
Neoprene
Neoprene (also polychloroprene) is a family of synthetic rubbers that are produced by polymerization of chloroprene.Werner Obrecht, Jean-Pierre Lambert, Michael Happ, Christiane Oppenheimer-Stix, John Dunn and Ralf Krüger "Rubber, 4. Emulsion R ...
plastic strip. The strip operates by placing the cartridges one or two at a time into their respective chambers, and "breaking" the rounds off the strip into the chamber.
Magazine loaders
![UpLULA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/UpLULA.jpg)
Loading a firearm
magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
, particularly one with a large capacity and a corresponding high spring pressure pushing the rounds to the top of the magazine, can be quite difficult. A number of devices are available to make this task simpler, which are sometimes called speedloaders but are more commonly known as magazine loaders, stripper clips, spoons, or stripper clip guides. The simplest are inexpensive devices that depress the top round in the magazine, allowing the next round to be partially inserted with no pressure on it. These are also called "thumb savers", and address ease of loading more than speed of loading. There are also devices available for certain popular firearms, such as the
Ruger 10/22
The Ruger 10/22 is a series of semi-automatic rifles produced by American firearm manufacturer Sturm, Ruger & Co., chambered for the .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge. It uses a patented 10-round rotary magazine, though higher capacity box ma ...
, that accept loose ammunition and will load a round into the magazine with a simple push of a button or turn of a crank. These are more complex and expensive (
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
25 to US$50), but are more truly a speedloader since they do greatly reduce the time required to load a magazine.
Stripper clips
![Refilling an M16 magazine](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Refilling_an_M16_magazine.jpg)
A stripper clip is a device that holds a number of rounds, usually from 5 to 10 rounds, and allows them to be inserted into a magazine (fixed or detachable) by attaching the clip to a special bracket and pressing the rounds into place. Military ammunition is often packaged in stripper clips, which, in older
bolt-action
Bolt-action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt via a bolt handle, which is most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon (as most users are right-handed).
Most bolt-action ...
rifles, could be loaded directly into the rifle's fixed magazine using a bracket machined into the rifle's action, or in modern rifles by the use of an adapter or guide that attaches the stripper clip to a detachable magazine.
Shotgun and rifle quickloaders
While much less common than revolver speedloaders, speedloaders for tubular magazines, called ''quickloaders'', have been around for many years and offer many of the same quick reloading ability benefits. The simplest quickloader of this type is the one used for
rimfire rifles with front loading tubular magazines. In this case, the quickloader is simply a tube that contains a magazine-capacity number of cartridges, with a seal at one end and a gate at the other. To load the magazine, the follower is removed, the rifle is pointed upwards, the tube is placed over the end of the magazine, and the gate is opened.
Gravity
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
then pulls the cartridges from the quickloader into the magazine, the quickloader is set aside, and the follower is replaced. Any length of tubing or pipe of the right diameter can be used in this way, with a simple pin through the middle serving as a gate. Commercial rimfire quickloaders often have multiple tubes joined together in parallel, with a single rotating gate. This allows multiple reloads to be carried, with reloading accomplished by simply rotating the gate in line with the next full tube of ammunition.
Shotgun speedloaders are slightly more complex, since shotgun magazines load from the breech. Shotgun speedloaders generally require a special bracket be mounted near the magazine loading port of the gun; many models mount by replacing existing pins that hold the trigger group in the receiver, and so can be installed easily without permanent modification of the gun. This bracket serves to hold the end of the speedloader tube in the correct position to feed the rounds out of the speedloader and into the magazine. The speedloaders themselves consist of a plastic tube containing a slot cut in it, and a plunger that rides in the slot and that forces the rounds into the magazine. Capacity is usually four or five rounds of 2-inch (70 mm) length
shells. Gravity is not suitable for operating these, as the rounds must be forced into the magazine against the pressure of the magazine spring. Shotgun speedloaders are most commonly encountered in
action shooting
Practical shooting, also known as dynamic shooting or action shooting, is a set of shooting sports where the competitors try to unite the three principles of precision, power, and speed, by using a firearm of a certain minimum power factor to sco ...
sports like
International Practical Shooting Confederation
The International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) is the world's largest shooting sport association, and the largest and oldest within practical shooting. Founded in 1976, the IPSC nowadays affiliates over 100 regions from Africa, America ...
(IPSC) shotgun competitions.
Gallery
File:Speed-loader full.jpg, View from front of loaded HKS revolver speedloader.
File:Speed-loader empty.jpg, View from front of unloaded HKS revolver speedloader.
File:Speed Beez Loaders.jpg, Speed Beez type speedloaders loaded with .357 Magnum
The .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum, .357 S&W Magnum, .357 Magnum, or 9×33mmR as it is known in unofficial metric designation, is a smokeless powder cartridge with a bullet diameter. It was created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, and Douglas B. ...
cartridges.
File:Media 7092 J-CLIP Up Hi.jpg, Zeta6 J-Frame Speed Clip
File:Bianchispeedstrip.jpg, Bianchi Speed Strips, used to quickly load a revolver two chambers at a time.
File:UpLULA On Mag m.jpg, UpLULA universal pistol magazine loader.
File:LULA M16 M.jpg, M-16 / AR-15 LULA rifle magazine loader and unloader.
File:SL-HiRes-s.jpg, M-16 / AR-15 StripLULA rifle magazine loader and unloader.
File:BL M16.jpg, BenchLoader heavy-duty rifle magazine loader.
File:Trijent Mechloader.jpg, Trijent Mech-loader for high volume loading
References
{{Reflist, 30em
Ammunition
Firearm terminology