I have been a glock guy my whole life, so I do not know much about revolvers.
I recently had to urge for a wheel gun and just bought a S&W 327 TRR8.
I was wondering what kind of moonclips will be optimal for this revolvers.
There are so many different thickness, I am unsure of what to get.
The store I am looking at has them in .020, .022 and 0.025 thickness. Which one will work best with my TRR8?
I would personally go with a speed loader over moon clips.
The reason there are several different clip thicknesses is because the groove on the 38/357 case is not standardized. It is different depending on who made the brass.
The question to ask first is what ammunition you’ll be feeding it. Remington, Federal, S&B and PMC (Starline too if you plan to reload) can use .025 thick clips. If you use Winchester, you need .022. I don’t use .020 clips. The thinner the clips are the more easily they are damaged.
You may want to look at an unloading tool. Sometimes it is stiff getting the ammo in and out of the clips.
All N-frame 8x 38/357 S&W revolvers use the same clips.
Ranch products are cheap and have fit all .38 brass I’ve tried. They also fit all the .357 brass I’ve tried, but loading quickly is just not a thing. The cases are too long and there’s too much wobble. I find myself dropping them on the cylinder, the putting a finger inside the clip and swishing the brass around until they drop in. It’s not nearly as bad with .38s.
The loading tool isn’t needed for Ranch products since the fit is so loose. The UNloading tool is helpful.
If you want no wobble (or noticeably less) you have to go Hearthco, which is both expensive and brass mfg specific like Wildcat says. I’ve got a set for Starline 38 short colt I use in USPSA. They’re absolutely worth the money for competition. For general range use I would just get the cheaper Ranch products clips since they work with everything.
I use the Ranch clips in a S&W 627. I THINK they are .025 but maybe someone can confirm that.
I can tell you Remington and Federal brass fit best. (A little loose) Hornady is tighter but works. S&B is Very tight but can be put in with a special loader or lots of pain in your fingers. Blazer aluminum is a no-go.
Like jh9 said, the loose .357’s wobble a lot and won’t be loaded in the gun quickly. However I’ve never had rounds fall out of the clips, either.
It’s nice to eject all brass at once. Easier to find on the ground and easier to save brass as well. Also saves time loading your revolver and picking up brass.
Pretend a moon clip is a magazine and it’s like buying a pack of eight, eight shot mags for $9 or so. Get some and try them out. Your not out much if you decide to go another way later.
You might also look at Revolver Supply. Their blue .025 clips hold Federal, S&B and R-P tight enough that you will want a loading tool (PMC were too tight sometimes). On the positive side though, a clip full of Fed cartridges will drop right in the cylinder without all that foreplay.
$30/10 isn’t bad at all. Might try some of those.
edit: did you try any speer brass?
I don’t have an abundance of Speer brass.
Checking what I have, the stuff that that is stamped “SPEER” with “38SPL” or “38SPL+P” seems to work fine with the .025 clips. No loading tool required to get them in and while not as tight as S&B, I’d expect the combination not to be floppy. Brass or nickle shells both seem to be fine.
I have a few pieces of brass marked “H SPEER DWM V” across the top and “38 SPL.” along the bottom. The groove on those is much too narrow to accept these clips.