Speedloader
Speedloaders come in a variety of forms for reloading revolvers, or the magazines used with other types of firearms such as rifles and shotguns.
The modern revolver circular speedloader holds a full cylinder complement of cartridges in a secure fashion, spaced in a circular configuration so as to allow the cartridges to drop simultaneously into the cylinder easily (although non-circular types such as half moon clips are very common as well).
Swing-out and top-break revolvers are designed to eject all cartridges with one movement, and speedloaders allow loading with but a single additional step.
Prior to the introduction of modern metallic cartridges (i.e. 1860–1879), certain models of older black powder cap and ball revolvers could be used with multiple replaceable cylinders functioning as "speedloaders".
[2] As the reloading process for a cap and ball revolver was lengthy and time-consuming, carrying already-loaded cylinders with percussion caps placed on cylinder nipples could offer a considerable improvement in reloading time, although historically, this was not typically done, and is more common among modern-day enthusiasts and exhibition shooters.
Intended as an alternative to loose rounds in a pocket or dump pouch, it holds six cartridges in a re-usable Neoprene plastic strip.
There are also devices available for certain popular firearms, such as the Ruger 10/22, that accept loose ammunition and will load a round into the magazine with a simple push of a button or turn of a crank.
In this case, the quickloader is simply a tube that contains a magazine-capacity number of cartridges, with a seal at one end and a gate at the other.
Commercial rimfire quickloaders often have multiple tubes joined together in parallel, with a single rotating gate.
Shotgun speedloaders generally require a special bracket be mounted near the magazine loading port of the gun; many models mount by replacing existing pins that hold the trigger group in the receiver, and so can be installed easily without permanent modification of the gun.
