A bit of a departure from the usual #wheelgunwednesday fare, I’m taking a look at some options in strip loaders for snub revolvers. These tend to be “flat” solutions to carrying spare ammo, whether they’re carried on the belt or not.
Why carry spare ammo? The flip answer is that it’s poor form to end a fight with an empty or partly empty gun. Refilling gives you options in case things haven’t settled down. Besides, it’s not much of a load.
Strips are handy because they’re flat. In my early law enforcement days, when patrol rifles weren’t part of the landscape, I had a Bianchi Speed Strip in a uniform shirt pocket. It held six rounds of KTW ammo – something the fact-deficient “news” service determined was “cop-killer” ammo, when it was sold to cops to deal with intervening barriers used as cover by armed felons. I never had to use it, disposed of the ammo before it became illegal – proving that good ideas seldom go unpunished.
The original Bianchi Speed Strips, in my experience, were hardy, didn’t tend to lose rounds and would only pull a loaded round back out of a cylinder if you didn’t pay attention.
Later, Tuff Products came out with their version – and spread the types beyond the 38/357 six-round strips from Bianchi (who, since, added 44/45 Colt to their line). Tuff had them for 22 rimfire, a very handy item to have.
Other big holster makers started strip loader lines, notably DeSantis and Galco. I’ve used both with some success.
Smart outfits – Galco being one, Simply Rugged being another – made leather belt carriers for strip loaders. Tuff Products makes nylon versions in a “dump pouch” style, one of which I’m wearing today and I’ve used it for many years. Likewise, the Wilderness Tactical has a nylon pocket pouch that fits strip loaders and they sell the Tuff Products branded loaders.
That should get you up to date – and I haven’t even mentioned the fine strip loaders (and other loaders) from Zeta6 – about which more is forthcoming.
You’d think there was market saturation, but apparently people still seek the “better mousetrap.”
Competition is good. Alan Miller, proprietor of Aholster, now has a new strip loader product. I have production prototypes and they are significantly different from previous strip loader products.
Aholster came to our notice via Tiger McKee. Alan and Tiger collaborated on some holster projects. His work with 3D printers led him down the path of finding the ideal Thermoplastic Polyurethane filament to use with cartridge strip loaders.
The result? From the samples I have, they’re considerably thicker, less flexible and hard to load cartridges into. I found from testing – loading cartridges into a S&W M642 and a Kimber K6xs – that they’re very sure to load with no “cartridge withdrawal” when peeling the loader off of the round.
The lessened flexibility I found to be an advantage. I expected them to be brittle. Not so. The flexibility is there, it’s just less flexible than previous strip loader products.
In my (thus far) limited practice, they seem to hold the ammo very well and make for a positive load. The first products were five-round loaders. We now have a pair of six-shot lightweight snubs (the Kimber K6xs and the Taurus M856 UL) that both cry out for six- or seven shot strips. Alan responded by sending along prototype six-round strips. I often carry strip loaders in the watch pocket of blue jeans. I have carried them in a cargo pocket on 5-11 utility trousers. Out of the 8 of these I have, only one lost rounds. I reloaded the offending unit and carried it loaded for more than a month.
No more lost rounds.
The thicker tab without any attempt to thin/contour may put some off, but if it adds to durability, it's a plus and it seemingly has no downsides I can see.
I’d passed a six-round Aholster TPU strip loader to Mike Rafferty. After a few days, I got the following message: “I am ready to purchase some. I like the size of the tab at the end and the thickness (of the loader). Gives a person something to hold onto. Loading them is no problem - just push the cartridge rim into the strip from the side and push down and it’s (loaded). Release of rounds is no problem. Finally, rounds don't come out in a pocket. Good stuff.”
I’m not throwing the other strip loaders out, but I’m running the Aholster versions more for daily use as a test. I’m hoping he decides to go into production with these.
Because more choices are better.
— Rich Grassi