Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

In this essay, I will compare two aluminum speed loaders by 5 Star Firearms and 8Shot (sold through Thunder Ranch). Both loaders are for S&W eight shot revolvers.

A standard 38 Special 158 grain LSWC cartridge is used for the size comparison.


8Shot on the top, 5 Star Firearms on the bottom


The 8Shot loader covers more of the cartridge, but allows for movement.


Both have index points, but the 8Shot's loader indexes on only 1/3 of its area.


The 5 Star Firearms loader is less bulky, but not painted.


5 Star's 100% index point coverage, as well as smaller diameter, makes loading easier.


The knobs are about the same. Both turn to the left for easy loading. Cartridges are securely held by both.


Another shot showing index points.

In all, I like both loaders. Either would be fine. However, the 8Shot loader's index points force the shooter to align the loader to the frame of the gun. Certain revolver stocks may cause problems if the area is not relieved.

I found the 5 Star Firearms loader to be easier to use. It is slightly smaller and it indexes perfectly. I would prefer that it came painted.

The 5 Star Firearms loader sells for $19.95, while the 8Shot loader sells for $65.95.

5 Star Firearms:
Speed Loaders

8Shot:
Thunder Ranch® Oregon 8Shot Speed Loader

Moved to "Handguns / Pistols"

Very cool. I went to the 5 star site, and was pleased to see 5 and 6 shot speedloaders, as well. I use HKS speedloaders, and have been pleased with them, but I like the idea of an all aluminum device.
Thanks for the post.

Parry

Very nice comparison! My question is are the speedloaders that much of an improvement over the moon clips? Does the extra length of the 357/38 in the moon clip as compared to the 45ACP for the S&W/Colt revolvers cause too much of a problem?

I have not tried them with 357 Magnum rounds yet.

As for moonclip vs speedloader: it depends. I will evaluate that during the gun course I will be attending soon.

COOL I have a Taurus M608 with 3" barrel. I belive it lines up the same. I have been looking for a good speed loader. You put that the 5 star speed loader was 19.95. I looked on there web site and it said 24.95. I would like to pickup 2 of them, but I didn't see how to order them.

Everett113 wrote:COOL I have a Taurus M608 with 3" barrel. I belive it lines up the same. I have been looking for a good speed loader. You put that the 5 star speed loader was 19.95. I looked on there web site and it said 24.95. I would like to pickup 2 of them, but I didn't see how to order them.

Yikes...he cranked up the price. I guess they're popular.

Click the "Load Up" button to buy.

Thanks! I hate the moonclip thing; too hard to load/unload and too floppy to slide cartridges easily into the chambers. Just hate'em. Been looking for some like these, with no luck.

user wrote:Thanks! I hate the moonclip thing; too hard to load/unload and too floppy to slide cartridges easily into the chambers. Just hate'em. Been looking for some like these, with no luck.

The moonclip tool solves all those problems. Loading and unloading is easy and fast. mooncliptool.com.

Excellent comparison, thanks for the info!