6 Shot Speed Strip for 5 Shot Revolver?

[HGM22]

To you, what makes more sense: having a 6 shot speed strip for a 5 shot revolver (giving one extra round), or having a 1:1 ratio of ammo on speed strip to revolver capacity?

 

[rcmodel]

Six.

Or just put 5 in a 6 and cut the last hole off with a sharp knife.

It's not a major decision you need to lose sleep over, in the grande scheme of things.

rc

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I load 4 from the front, skip and put the last round at the back. I have found that works well in a 5 round revolver. When I put the other round in the strip it makes loading the last round slower, for me...

 

[HGM22]

Not losing any sleep, just bored really.

ArchAngel, that makes a lot of sense. It gives you a place to put a finger and visually shows when the revolver has been fully recharged.

 

[Dan-O]

I do 3, skip one and then 2. For my 6 shot revos I use 7 shot strips and do 4 cases, skip one and then 2.

 

[camsdaddy]

I'm a 2 skip 2 and 2 myself. I find it faster for me.

 

[old lady new shooter]

I have seen people suggest to only put 5 rounds in a 6-round strip regardless of the capacity of the revolver, they say leaving the end position open makes using the strip faster because you can hold it there.

Personally I haven't yet experimented at all with speed strips so I can't offer an opinion. But I will have the opposite issue since my revolver is a 7-shot. (7-capacity speed strips are available but not from Bianchi, reviews I saw said the other brand isn't good.)

 

[beag_nut]

And once again, rcmodel has the best answer.

 

[GBExpat]

Not losing any sleep, just bored really. ...

That condition appears to provide the genesis of many Threads.

For my Bulldog .44spc (5-shot), I load the strips that I originally got for my 629 (6-shot) with 6 rounds. O'course, I only carry them for spare ammo, not quick-load spare ammo ... for quick-load I have 5-round HKS CA44s.

 

[AZAndy]

I do 3, skip one and then 2. For my 6 shot revos I use 7 shot strips and do 4 cases, skip one and then 2.

Same here, and then hold it in the middle.

 

[Haywood]

I load all Six. You can never have too much ammo.

 

[jeepnik]

Hmm, your revolver holds 5 rounds. Your speed strip holds 6. It would really suck to load only 5 in the speed strip and need 11 rounds.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Why carry only an exact reload amount?

When out in the boonies, I often carried a 5 shot 38 Spl snub in a "belly band" holster with two 6 shot speed strips. 12 spare rounds for a 5 shot, why not?

If I fired one or two shots at a feral or rabid attacking animal, I would not wait until I needed a complete reload anyway. At safest opportunity, I would extract the fired empties and "top off" the cylinder.

Plus I do own a six shot .357 Security Six which I carried at times on family property on the mountain, so no reason to cut off the "extra" round.

 

[Drail]

I like Ayoob's suggestion to only load 5 into a 6 round strip just so you have a better "handle" to work with but I also like to carry as many rounds as possible at the same time. My carry revolvers are 5 rounders but I load 6 rounds in the strips anyway. I consider the speed strips to be "backups" to the 2 speed loaders I carry on my belt. But FWIW, if I ever get into a gunfight my absolute first priority is going to be finding and getting behind some hard cover before I worry about making a "speedy" reload with either a strip or a speedloader. I could be wrong about this but it is how I was trained. Always be looking for hard cover - and use it if possible.

 

[ACP]

What Dan-O said: 3 rounds, skip a space, then 2. That's what I was taught. The space in the middle makes it easier to bend the rubber strip and quickly reload the revolver.

Trivia/trick question: How many rounds does it take to reload a revolver?

Answer: One.

 

[hAkron]

Put all 6 on there, better to have one extra bullet.

 

[ChuteTheMall]

Depends on the dexterity of your particular fingers; some might value empty spaces to give them more to grab, others might prefer more ammo and have practiced.

I vote for more ammo, and if I can't get a grip, I can simply remove a round or two.

 

[Madcap_Magician]

I actually do the 2/skip/3 method as well.

The reason is because it's easier to insert two rounds at a time with a speed strip without the middle rounds getting in the way. You have the most leverage to tear the strip off when you're loading the rounds on either end. I keep the fifth in the middle as kind of a last-ditch effort when if I needed to use and then rapidly reload a five-shot revolver, I would actually just load four.

 

[Shootshellz]

I follow Ayoob's advice of loading 5 and keep the hole next to the flat 'paddle' empty. Gives a greater hand purchase on the strip and no need to futz around with moving the strip any more than necessary when reloading.

 

[fastbolt]

I load 5 rounds in the 6-rd speedstrips I carry for my 5-shot .38's & .357's.

That "extra" 6th round is only going to end up in evidence when it's collected from the ground, still in the speedstrip, which is where I'll drop the speedstrip after loading 5 rounds into 5-rd guns in a situation that merits reloading a snub. Just like I trained to drop empty speedloaders when training & qualifying with service revolvers many years ago.

The extra space does help with controlling the speedstrip during loading, too.

If I'm going to pull one of my 6-shot revolvers from the safe, and I'm not going to be carrying speedloaders, then I'll use speedstrips filled with 6 rounds. I used to keep a couple groups of speedstrips for off-duty revolvers, separated by caliber/capacity.

Manipulating & using speedstrips is a skill that requires some learning and periodic practice. Ditto speedloaders, for that matter.

Speedstrips have a minor advantage in that speedloaders require clearance of the left grip stock to align and insert the rounds into the charge holes as a group. Some grip stock/loader combinations might have clearance issues.

 

[P5 Guy]

Buy eight round speed strips. Three reloads for five shooters.