Loading your double

[Kevin Peacocke]

Kevin,
I see a future for you as a supplier of these on the forum. Any info or link to manufacturer?

Safari and Outdoor Rivonia, my second home!

 

[Rare Breed]

I picked up these speed loading grips in Johannesburg, they work really well and took about three seconds off my loading time.
View attachment 712140

Just looked online at @Kevin Peacocke favorite store but they do not list them anywhere

 

[Tintin]

Here's a video of them in action

They do look to be 3-D printed.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Just looked online at @Kevin Peacocke favorite store but they do not list them anywhere

The gunsmith there 3-D prints them. you just need to tell him the calibre.

 

[Flbt]

View attachment 712147
Cool! They seem the modern/upgraded version of the stuff on this pic I found time ago, just here on AH.
Never thought anyone make them!

Seeing the loaders. Have you ever seen speed strips for revolvers? I wonder would something like a speed strip for a ne work?

 

[Ray B]

My guess for the source of a writer proposing the idea of cartridges being held in the fore hand is that either the writer played tennis and kept one ball in his hand or he shot the shotgun games where three birds are thrown. Neither situation seems applicable to close quarters action with a heavy recoiling rifle. I'd opt for one of those grips as show above.

 

[Phil Giordano]

Seeing the loaders. Have you ever seen speed strips for revolvers? I wonder would something like a speed strip for a ne work?

Yes I know those speed strips for revolvers (me, I use the classic Speed Loaders)...
I believe what Kevin showed is probably far better

 

[Sideshow]

Those speed loaders do look the part. My only concern with them is when you bend over they come off our going through the thick stuff they get hung up, or worse pull the ammo out of your pouch.

 

[JoninCO]

I’m with everyone else in the camp of saying “no” to rounds between the fingers. I don’t want to compromise my firing grip, and I think it’s a marginal time saver at best.

- Will the cartridges stay oriented after firing?
- Can you maintain a grip if you have to shoot in a sub-optimal position? (Off-axis, etc.)

It takes time to open and orient the gun to shuck my casings anyways, and I can reliably grab two more rounds off my belt and have them ready to go right when they need to be. I maintain that Cowboy Action Shooting (for us US residents) shotgun reloading is the best practice readily and affordably available for double rifles. It’s the same manual of arms and I have found it to be very effective.

Those speed strips are really neat, I’m going to have to print something up and give them a go, I’d never seen anything like that for my double.

 

[towserthemouser]

Can't speak to the technique of fast reloading by holding two rounds in the fingers of the weak side hand while DG hunting.

But I did once use that technique with a 12ga SxS shotgun to successfully pull off a triple on a covey flush of wild sharptail grouse in South Dakota. Outfitter said he'd seen a triple twice before in 20 years of guiding, but only with a semiautomatic shotgun, never with a double barrel. I told him I could never do it again but it sure was fun to pull it off that one time! Probably the best shot I ever made, or ever will make.

To be fair it's probably a bit easier to stay calm and pull it off with birds than with buffalo.

 

[Longrifle]

Whatever method you decide to use - PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.

 

[dhughes66]

I can only speak to using a 20ga side by side shotgun, but I have for years carried two shells between my fingers of my left hand to reload quickly in the dove field. For me it works very well but I am sure there is a difference between a shotgun and a heavy recoiling double rifle. I hope to try it one day when I eventually get a double rifle. My shotgun has extractors so I use my right hand to pull the empties out and then load with my left hand. I can do it without looking most of the time

 

[Hagler.450Ex]

I've never held between fingers. I can imagine that anything bigger than a .303 would be awkward. They are front-heavy, wobbly, dangly things, that want to go everywhere but where you want them, even when not pulling ridiculous tricks such as mentioned, unless they are on your belt. Secondly, I don't want my fingers at the forend to feel any disturbance or awkwardness when sighting for a shot, it's not natural. The first reason above is why I never liked the .450 no. 2, because the long things were so fumbly. I've mentioned this before, that I found myself wanting a different rifle for this reason ONLY.
I'll never use another as long as I live. I still see that morning sometimes, and it was surreal. Surreal, in that I was still standing there and still ok when I should not have been ok at all. Something with a 3" case size is better to hold on to and direct into the chambers, much like a shotgun shell. Yes, belt on strong side, right hand. There really is no way around this unless totally switching to a magazine rifle.