I want polymer moonclips for the Taurus .380 ACP revolver.

I want polymer moonclips for the Taurus .380 ACP revolver.
Can they be made from plastic scrap?

So I got the Taurus .380 ACP revolver. It is on page 6 of their catalog here:
www.taurususa.com/pdf/2011_taurus_newcatalog.pdf
Here is what mine looks like:



The moon clips, or stellar clips as the manual calls them, are ok. But they are a little bit difficult to moon and demoon. So I am wanting the polymer moonclips like these guys sell:
http://www.beckhamdesign.com/khxc/index.php?app=ccp0&ns=catshow&ref=RIMZ+Products

Here is what they look like:

They are very easy to put a case into and take a case out of.

But they do not have them for the Taurus .380 ACP revolver. Does anybody know where I can buy some?
Or can I make some? Could I just take the lid of a margarine tub and cut them out of that? Maybe sharpen an empty .380 case and cut the 5 slots to fit?

I absolutly love the polymer clips over the metal ones for my SW 625 .45 acp. I have done some sufing and also can't find them for your .380. I would E-mail or call these folks and ask them if they have or know of anyone that is making them for your gun. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Nicnac wrote: I would E-mail or call these folks and ask them if they have or know of anyone that is making them for your gun.

That day I did leave a message here:
http://www.beckhamdesign.com/khxc/index.php?app=ccp0&ns=contact
No response yet, probably because of the holidays.

SUMMARY: I would be happy to make a few of the plastic moonclips or a cookie cutter to allow ease of making more plastic moonclips. But so far all I have is a cobbled up mess. Maybe somebody else has ideas on how to make plastic moonclips? It sounds like it should be easy.

The rest of this post just shows my misguided efforts. If you have ideas, please just post them. Even if you mention things I have already tried maybe it just means that I need to try them again more carefully. All ideas will be gladly received.

DETAILS: I am thinking I need strong plastic to make the moonclips. So I got an empty cream cheese tub that had the 5 in a triangle on it.


You can just barely see it in the photo so here is the 5 in triangle symbol I am talking about.


I got the idea that I needed to get the number 5 plastic by reading this:
http://environment.about.com/od/earthtalkcolumns/a/recycleplastics.htm

Then I found that a 10mm or .40 S&W case is pretty much the correct size for the center hole in the moonclip.


And a .30 Carbine case is pretty much the correct size for the semi-circles in the moonclip.


So I need to sharpen those cases with the Lee chamfer tool.


There ought to be some way to make a cookie cutter to easily stamp out these moonclips, right?
I can easily get the center hole by having an arbor press cut the plastic with the .40 S&W case.


So if I could make a cookie cutter I could stamp out a plastic moonclip in one press of the arbor press, right?

I tried drilling the plastic.
I tried tracing the moonclip onto the piece of plastic.

Then I tried drilling the five outer holes. But the space between the center hole and the outer holes is so small. And the plastic curls up as I drill it so all I got was a cobbled up mess that I threw away before I thought to snap a photo.

I tried making a cookie cutter out of wood holding empty sharpened brass cases.
I thought I could make a cookie cutter by drilling holes in a piece of wood. Then drive in the one 10mm empty sharpened brass case in the middle and the five .30 Carbine empty sharpened brass cases around the middle. Then I could just press that cookie cutter into the plastic and make a moonclip quickly.
But the spaces between the holes is too small. The wood collapses.


Other
I looked at making a cookie cutter from just putting the sharpened cases into the steel moonclip. But it seemed too wobbly.

What about trying to do the same thing is sheet metal that you were trying to do in the wood?

how about drilling the holes instead of trying to cookie cut the draw your stinsel then drill out the holes then cut out the rest with an exacto knife?
i could get u some plastic i work at a plastic factory how thick do you need?

dartfreak75 wrote:how about drilling the holes instead of trying to cookie cut the draw your stinsel then drill out the holes then cut out the rest with an exacto knife?

Thanks. I think I will try your suggestion.

dartfreak75 wrote:i could get u some plastic i work at a plastic factory how thick do you need?

Thanks for the offer! Let me figure out what I do need before I ask for anything.