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Loaded Cartridges with moon clip stuck in pistol

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12K views 61 replies 47 participants last post by  COKid  
#1 · (Edited)
I've gotten myself into a pickle, and while I know a little about guns I know nothing about revolvers. I purchased for my wife a ruger revolver, and it came with some Moon Clips. I used this to load the revolver. But I want to take out the loaded cartridges and moon clips. How do I do this on a Ruger? The tutorials that I'm seeing online show easy unloading when the cartridges are spent, but mine are not and attached to a moon clip. How can I remove all loaded cartridges including the moon clip holding them?
 
#33 ·
you could put the remaining ammo on GunBroker and turn a profit on it

My 9mm LCR does not like steel or aluminum case ammo. Blazer Brass is a bad choice for bullets walking forward under recoil, so best avoided in the LCR (great in most semi-autos though). The loaded moon clips fit nicely into a Walgreen's pill bottle for handy refills.
 
#34 ·
you could put the remaining ammo on GunBroker and turn a profit on it

My 9mm LCR does not like steel or aluminum case ammo. Blazer Brass is a bad choice for bullets walking forward under recoil, so best avoided in the LCR (great in most semi-autos though). The loaded moon clips fit nicely into a Walgreen's pill bottle for handy refills.
Hey, I thought I discovered the Rx bottle trick! LOL
 
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#36 ·
Ruger sometimes uses Reimers that maybe a little worn or undersized. This creates an undersized chamber. I have had this in two GP100s over the years. The op might have undersized Chambers would cause the ammunition to stick. But leaving it sit for a year is not good either. I guess this is not a self defense gun.
 
#37 ·
Sounds like dirty chambers or bad ammo. I have had my revolvers with sticky shells usually only with really dirty chambers. I don't have any with moon clips though...

Easy to tell if rounds are fired or tried to be fired is there are dimples in the primers...

I would not hesitate to use a wooden dowel in the open end of the chambers even with live rounds to knock them out. Little issue with unfired rounds, they're not dynamite, just try to keep your fingers out of the way of the open ends of the cylinder if you're worried about it... Clap it in a vise with a piece of leather or cloth so you don't damage the cylinder, and put the rod in the cylinder, and tap lightly with a hammer.
 
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#41 ·
So it has 5 round moon clips. Are these Ruger provided moon clips? Did the gun extract well before firing? Would be nice if the op told us what type of ammo used, brass, aluminum, steel, brand, etc. The ejector may not be under the moon clip. I don't know. If fired I don't know why the op was afraid to just put some small wooded dowels into the empty shell and tap them out versus banging on the ejector rod. Not wise. Even if they were loaded rounds this could be done safely although I might not use those rounds again. This is not nuclear science. Next problem, taking the shells out of the moon clip. I have to say that this has been the most befuddled post I have seen in a long time.
 
#48 ·
So it has 5 round moon clips. Are these Ruger provided moon clips? Did the gun extract well before firing? Would be nice if the op told us what type of ammo used, brass, aluminum, steel, brand, etc. The ejector may not be under the moon clip. I don't know. If fired I don't know why the op was afraid to just put some small wooded dowels into the empty shell and tap them out versus banging on the ejector rod. Not wise. Even if they were loaded rounds this could be done safely although I might not use those rounds again. This is not nuclear science. Next problem, taking the shells out of the moon clip. I have to say that this has been the most befuddled post I have seen in a long time.
Several people in this thread have talked about tapping or banging out stuck rounds out of a gun. While this might be OK with a empty fired case, PLEASE do not hit a loaded round with anything. People have died or have been seriously injured when a pounded live cartridge went off. Driving the bullet back into a case, and rapidly compressing the powder in it, can cause it to ignite.

I had to stop people at my range, twice so far, that were banging on a cleaning rod stuck down the barrel of an AK that had a steel case cartridge stuck in the chamber...

Steel case cartridges are coated to prevent rusting. This coating can be a lacquer or other low melting temperature polymer. When the barrel gets hot enough, it can soften or melt the coating enough to stick the live case in the chamber. This is most possible in a semi auto rifle or pistol when rapidly shooting a lot of rounds.

The case coating might possibly be dissolved with a solvent like acetone or MEK to free the cartridge. But the best thing to do is to take it to a gunsmith. If you have a live round stuck for any reason, PLEASE do not apply any sort of force to a live round that is stuck in the chamber or cylinder.
 
#43 ·
Something wrong with this post. The OP never responds to questions about the model or ammo brand. Even though he describes buying 3000 rounds of 9mm. Never sends real pictures of the gun or ammo even though he says he will. He did not go to the range with his wife to shot the new gun? She paid range fees and left after taking 5 shots? I do not know what is going on but it does not seem legit.
 
#56 ·
This ^

People on this forum are so willing to help, and for the most part, so friendly, that they sort of ignore the obvious.

If it's legit, then I suspect the OP doesn't have quite the experience that he claims, otherwise I would think he would know what "9mm Luger" means.
 
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#44 ·
Sorry you have been having difficulty. I own a Ruger LCR in 9mm and regularly shoot it with and without moonclips.

As you will recallm revolver cartridges have a rim, i/e. 38 spl. .357 mag, 450 Casul etc. and the ejector star pushes up against the rim when ejecting the cartridges. Mooclips with revolver cartridges only serve to allow for faster loading and unloading by holding the cartridges together in a "block".

Pistol cartridges do not have a rim, i.e. 9mm Luger, 9mm, .45 ACP, .380 ACP etc. so there is nothing for the ejector to push against. The moonclip provides a surface for the ejector to push against and also holds the cartridges together in a "block" for faster loading and unloading.

All you need to do to get fired or unfired pistol cartridges out of your 9mm LCR is open the cylinder and "poke" the cartridges out from the front of the pencil, stick, cleaning rod etc. I do this all the time. It works find.

An excerpt from the LCR manual is below for reference:

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR 9MM MOON CLIPS 9mm revolvers require special moon clips to extract the cartridges using the ejector rod because this type of cartridge has no rim for the ejector to act against. Individual cartridges may be fired without the moon clip, but will then require that each cartridge or fired case be individually removed to unload the revolver.

The Ruger manual for some reason leaves out the need to use "pencil" to poke out the cartridges.

FYI if you don't have a loaded moonclip and need to reload you 9mm LCR and carrying a pistol 9mm Luger pistol magazine you can just "thumb" cartridges out of a 9mm pistol magazine right into the revolver cylinders.

Don't let anyone tell you that pistol caliber revolver are not cool.

Happy shooting!
 
#45 ·
As my title says I am nuts about Ruger Firearms. They are one of if not the most robust revolvers' on the market. A great value for your money. All that being said they are not the at the top of the list for fit and finish. I have had two revolvers that had extraction problems. One was a Singe Six in 32 H&R and one was a GP-100 in 44 special. Both had rough cylinder walls and if I shot any hot rounds I would have to use a wooden dowel to tap out the rounds. I bought cylinder hones and smoothed out both of them. I do not recommend doing this unless you have a lot of experience in doing this type of machine work. If you continue to have extraction problems send it back to Ruger. They are great about warranting their firearms. FYI- love the 9mm in a revolver.
 
#47 ·
Tatershooter, let's get down to some basics. First off, a quick glance at the primers of the rounds that were stuck in the cylinder would tell you if they had been fired or not, since the primers would have dents in them. Or a glance at the front of the cylinder would tell you if there were any bullets in the cartridges (doing so only when the cylinder is open, of course). The next thing to do is get the fired cartridges out of the moon clip and check to see how the moon clip alone fits in the cylinder (do this with all of your moon clips, in fact!) If any are difficult to remove they should be set aside and checked by someone who knows a bit about them. They may be slightly bent or maybe a little oversized, both of which can be fixed fairly easily. If all is working as intended, you should be able to punch the entire clip & spent cartridges out with one thumb. Hitting the ejector rod works if the cartridges are hard to eject but it should not be necessary every time the revolver is fired!

Generally, you want to avoid any steel (Wolf, Tulammo, etc.) or aluminum (some CCI) cased ammo and use only quality brass cased ammo, such as Federal, Speer, etc. The steel and aluminum cased ammo is cheap but these type of cases don't have the same slippery and expansion properties as brass. Whatever you use, make sure it is brass cased, and not plated or some alternative material.

If the ammo you have works in your Glock, even if it is steel or aluminum cased, there is no need to get rid of it, just keep it for your Glock and don't mix it up with ammo for the Ruger.

It is also possible that the chambers in the Ruger are just a bit too rough, in which case you can send it back to Ruger or have your gunsmith polish them a bit. This is not a difficult job, doesn't take long to do and shouldn't be overly expensive to have done.

Lastly, a bit (as in a very thin coating) of oil in the cylinders might help with extraction. Put some oil on a patch and run it thru the chambers in the cylinder, then run a dry patch thru them one time. This will prevent rust and should also help with extraction. However, too much oil in the chambers is NOT a good thing and may actually cause extra wear by not allowing the brass to "grab" onto the chamber walls as it is supposed to!

Just some starter info as you don't seem very familiar with revolvers.
Good luck & good shooting!
Cheers,
crkckr
 
#49 ·
First thing that comes to mind is that the moon clip may be for a different make of revolver. Is it marked in any way? Then go down the list as above for steel, or aluminum cases. I do tap out stuck rounds With a moon clip it might require tapping on every round, in sequential order, to free the full clip. Once out, check for rough or dirty chambers. It only take a very little dirt, or even just one particle to jam an ejector assembly. Lots of possibilities, but first, get the fired cases out.

Having said all of that, rej69 may be right. The OP just doesn't sound right.
 
#58 ·
Agree as clean the Cylinder out real good. 9MM is almost 38 Special and I use a 40 cal brush to clean the cylinders. If new and not cleaned the oild is not oil but rather rust inhibitor and may have caused the lock up. Hopefully this helps.
 
#60 ·
8/17/24 This same thing happen to my Ruger LCR 9mm with Luger steel case 9mm bullets. I had to use a hammer and force the spent casings out. My husband thinks it’s the ammo. We are going to try to brass? I hope this doesn’t keep happening.
 
#62 ·
Ammo selection. I carry a Colt Detective Special as my CCW. I have to qualify with it at my department range once a year. A couple of times the 38 special ammo they provided were reloads and would create the exact scenario of this thread where I had to be at them out of the gun. Grabbed a box of factory ammo and zero problems.