Hi.
As part of my preparation process, i watched a lot of videos and one such video was about the speed loaders for semi-auto pistols.
Having stubby fingers that aren’t as nimble as they were 30+ years ago, i decided to get one.
I got it, and i immediately set upon loading my magazines.
The videos say you can load 10 rounds lickety split. So… i inserted 10 rounds, and began the process of loading my first magazine…
Considering that my mags were brand new, and hadn’t been used yet, i found myself getting nowhere, and instead, was merely bruising my chest, and gut.
So, i watched other videos, but still ten rounds were the norm.
I asked the dealer i bought it from… the best they offered was- try fewer rounds until the springs on the magazines were broken in.
So… i tried 7.
Still nada!
I dropped to 4. That worked famously! Lickety split!
So i bumped it up to 6… nope!
I then went to 5. That worked, not as well as 4 but it was doable.
Today I cleaned my guns after going out to the range, and loaded a couple of magazines with some new ammo.
Brass shells, and brass bullets. These were from Eastern Europe. An old soviet country. Bosnia-Herzegovina.
5 rounds were all but impossible to load. I may as well have been loading by hand.
I then opened a new box, different ammo, and was able to load my wife’s magazines no problem. Her’s too are brand new.
Has anyone else used these speed loaders before?
What has your experience been?
Tyia.
Thx for the link.
I never bought this one, but tested it for few hrs during pistol class last month.
When I was using it, I found that the problem was with magazines, not the ammo.
I was able to load any ammo to my 2011 (funny - the magazine barely fit the loader) magazines.
But my 2011 magazines get so light springs, that it’s nice to load them by hand. I used ZSR (Turkish), Federal (USA), Capital (reloads), PNR (reloads), SuperVel (reloads).
Sometimes, (I couldn’t find a pattern) I had problems to load the same ammo to other magazines but I’m guessing the issue was with tighter magazine springs.
This kind of loader is not perfect, there are too many variables involved that may fail.
If you really need loader, use something simpler, that works reliably for any magazine.
It is fairly simple. You still have to load one at a time. It saves your fingers when it’s cold. Not much faster than the old fashion way. Definitely easier on the last couple rounds on 17 round mags or when mag springs are stiff.
It works the way it shows it works on the video.
After 20 + years of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo, these mag loaders are essential for me. My hands can make gi grips really well, but my fine motor movements just hurt to perform.
UpLula all the way. There is young woman sales rep for the company that demos them at our local gun shows. She can load a 20 rnd 9mm mag in well under 10 seconds. The secret to her efficiency? The same thing that gets you to Carnegie hall!
I’m also a big fan of the UpLula. I haven’t timed myself but it is noticeably faster and easier than trying to do it by hand. Once you figure out the rhythm it goes very smoothly.
I’m a medically retired sheet metal worker.
My hands/fingers used to be so strong that i could lift a 4 x 10 sheet of steel, hoist it high enough and hold it well. When my wife and I got married, my “relaxed” state of my hand would crush her fingers, between mine. Needless to say, we don’t hold hands my preferred way…
While my hands aren’t as strong as they once were… my fingers hurt now… i have 4 “trigger fingers”, and sometimes those fingers literally lock up, and it hurts like the dickens to straighten them out again.
I have to forcefully pull them open…
So, while i don’t have your particular experiences… mine are sufficient for me.
I like the ets, i just wish it allowed me to actually load 10 rounds as it says.
After Saturday’s experience, I’m thinking that it’s more about the ammo than me.
All brass ammo is exceedingly tedious and brass cartridges with copper bullets are not.
I have the same one and it works like the bees knees, You probably need to lube it. They come packaged dry, but theres instructions to lube the bottom of the feed lips assembly right where it transitions to the magazines. then it works like butter. couple quick squirts of some Rem oil and you will notice worlds of difference
I tried the gun lube oil (once i talked to the seller about it).
It didn’t really seem to help that much.
I thought about greasing (axle grease) it, but figured that wouldn’t be the wisest idea…
I’ve found over the years that if there’s a possibility that stupid exists, I’d stumble upon it.
