Safariland Speedloader

Close to joining the 1-star crowd, I was about to give up on this Safariland Speedloader, but with so many giving it 4 or 5, I decided it might be me. I was me, except for one flaw and one impediment. Flaw. The push knob has a sharp rim, and it is a stiff, clockwise turn to lock cartridges in, so I sanded it down a bit, and it is much more comfortable to use. Impediment. Locking requires more strength than my arthritic hands like, but manageable. Should be no problem for healthy hands. Loading requires a firm push on the body to release cartridges, but when it clicks, cartridges easily fall into the chambers. Clearly no compromise on alignment with cylinder chambers. Diameter is less than any other speed loader I have seen. That makes it easier to line up and drop cartridges in the tight spaces encountered in many revolvers. After practicing with it for a while, I found out why it is so well-liked. For the price, perhaps any price, it can’t be beat. I just compared it to the two, other popular speed loaders, one 4x more expensive, and the Safariland was by far the fastest. Also, unlike other speed loaders I’ve tried, the Safariland makes it easy to unload as well. It IS NOT flimsy; it is molded plastic, feels firm, and appears to have the potential for 100s of reloads.

Read all the reviews. As usual, about 90% of them are worthless, posted by trolls, know-nothings, and "me-too-ers"! First off, this J-P3C Comp II Speedloader DOES WORK with the New Colt Pyton introduced in 2020! Right out of the package it took me about 30 seconds to figure out how to load the loader, and then I read the instructions to verify my intuitive findings. The cartridges are inserted rim first with the loader chambers facing up. Then hold the cartridges in place as the loader is flipped upside down and placed on a hard surface such as a table top. Without applying pressure, wiggle the loader and cartridges around a bit to insure the rims are flat against the top (inside), then while stabilizing the loader body with one hand, use the thumb and forefinger of the other hand to press the knob down until it stops. Then rotate clockwise until you hear the click. The loader is now loaded. With New Colt Python cylinder open and revolver angled nose down, place the tips of the cartridges into the chambers and rotate the cylinder slightly as the front portion of the cartridges seat in place. YES the body of the loader will bear against the scallped portion of the New Colt Python's left grip panel, but slight rotation aligns the cut-out near the loader body's top edge in such a way as to remove contact. At this point, press the loader BODY straight down. Pressure from the ejector star will compress the loaders central stem causing it unlock and the cartridges will fall down into the chambers without issue. Anyone posting that these things don't work, or are too complicated to figure out is telling you all about who THEY are, but what they are NOT doing is giving you and honest review. Now, for my personal impressions: I like that they are compact, and I like the spring loaded mechanism and the direct push cartridge release. There is no doubt a person under stress is more likely to be able to ham-fit this thing into place and SHOVE, versus the added fine motor coordination of having to hold the cylinder still while rotating a release knob as on the HK versions. It takes some getting used to the cartridges only being about half way in the chambers when released, but after multiple loading sequences the system works extremely well. While the cartridges do move around a bit in the loader, they don't "rattle" at all like they do in HK loaders. Having said that, I have a long history with HK loaders, and they will exhibit the same minor "bind" as they are being introduced to the cylinder, but the cartridges go much further in, followed by a quick rotation of the knob and the rounds drop out cleanly! Either brand will get the job done, and in practised hands, either can be operated under stress.

The listed description of the speed loader states the material is metal. Not so, it is plastic. The product is still functional, it does what it is designed to do. It is not expensive. Is it durable and will it pass the test of time? Too much plastic in this world. Oceans polluted with millions of tons of plastic, food and water packaged in plastic, plastic handguns and plastic people. I won't return this item. My other speed loaders are all metal. Maybe this might plastic will be ok for most shooters, But for me, I just want honesty when I buy a product, it's not so much to ask. I ended up returning this and ordered a metal speed loader, from HKS, on Amazon. I am not claiming the plastic one is inferior because I haven't used it. I want metal and I don't mind the additional weight. I have others from HKS and I am well satisfied with the quality.

These are quite nice in the way they hold your rounds tightly with virtually no chance of accidentally releasing them and having them drop out prematurely etc. The important thing to have on your gun is a set of grips to accommodate the loader so that it will not bind up when trying to insert your rounds into the cylinder. If your grips don't leave enough room, things can get stuck, leaving you disabled until you get things free. This is because the speed loader releases the bullets by pushing the outer shell of the loader forward to sorta shoot the rounds into the cylinder, and if there is not enough clearance to do that the rounds will wedge tightly at a slight outward angle making it difficult to work free. If your grips aren't an interference, these speed loaders are WONDERFUL. If they are and interference, you should consider different ones anyway if you plan to proficiently use a speed loader of any kind, because the importance of room to perform the procedure is crucial. These are worth the money. The trick is getting used to the function of how these loaders operate. Once you figure out how to lock your rounds in (which is tough at first if you're not familiar with the style), you can repetitiously practice the process (motions) of ejecting the old rounds and reloading with the speed loaders. What's particularly nice is how you can dump the rounds back into the loader because of the center pin that lines up with the cylinder locking pin, this makes it really easy to unload the cylinder without having to just dump the rounds into your hand etc. So repetition with the same 6 rounds is very easy when practicing your reload muscle memory.

Made of plastic. Loading the Safariland speedloader is a complicated two-handed four-step process. (1) Hold the loader face up and drop in the cartridges. (2) Hold your fingers over the cartridges and turn the loader upside down, careful to not let the cartridges fall out, and place the loaded on a firm surface like a workbench or a kitchen table. (3) with the cartridges now nose down on the table, push down on the big button on the back until you can turn the big button to lock in the cartridges. (4) Turn the big button to lock. Compare that to the HKS 586: (1) Hold the loader face up and drop in the cartridges. (2) turn the knob to lock the cartridges. Done. Loading the gun is another exercise in futility (at least with my GP-100.) With the gun pointed at the ground, insert the cartridges into the revolver cylinder. The Safariland loader interferes with the cylinder lock button and it is difficult to get the loader lined up. Once lined up, grip the outside of the Safariland loader, NOT the button you used to load the loader, and push down to release the cartridges into the cylinder. The poor alignment makes that fumbly, and sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. One reviewer thought this Safariland loader had an advantage over the HKS because all one has to do is push to release the cartridges when loading the revolver. With the HKS one has to turn the button. I submit that the HKS is less fumbly and less susceptible to slight misalignment due to interfering with the cylinder lock button. Therefore in my mind the HKS is faster, not slower as the other reviewer claimed. Even in a perfectly aligned world, the extra 0.001 seconds it might take to turn the HKS button versus gripping and pushing the entire Safariland loader is not going to change any life or death situations. I am keeping my HKS loaders and sending these back.

Works great. I originally bought the HKS speed loaders for my GP-100. They work well enough. I went with the HKS originally due to demo videos of both products. The HKS looked to be much simpler to load shells into while the Safariland COMP II seemed a little easier to unload/load the revolver. Since my GP-100 is mainly for recreation the quicker unload with the COMP2 wasnt a huge deal but the seemingly awkward way the COMP II is loaded with new shells seemed a little troublesome. Therefore based on that I went with the HKS. Simpler loading, seemed roughly similar in effort for unload but not similar in how its done. I wanted a couple more speedloaders so I bought a couple COMP IIs. Loading the revolver with the Comp II is like night and day. Much much simpler and quicker. They keep their alignment better than the HKS and the COMP II releases the shells much cleaner and easier. Not that the HKS is hard, just different. Where the HKS has some issues is over time the shells are not held tight and getting them lined up with the revolver can take a little wiggling. Now for the original reason the HKS was bought. The COMP II process for loading new shells. The videos I saw had you put new shells in, place your hand over the end of the shells holding them in place, then quickly turning them upside down over a flat surface, then press down and twist. HKS you just load them up and turn knob. Seemed much simpler which it is. I found though if you simply load up the shells in the COMP II put the shell ends against the heel of your hand, flit over and apply slight pressure and twist it works just fine without the acrobatics of getting the shells on a flat surface. After working this out there is no competition between these two products from design and use. I can't speak for durability yet though. So far HKS would get a 3.5 out of 5 and COMP II a 5 out of 5. Much better. Since they unload differently for personal defence I dont think you would want to use both. For recreation I dont really see an issue with having both as you are not trying to learn a repetitive task quickly. I like the HKS, I love the COMP II.

I bought 3 of these Safariland speed loaders. While the speed loaders DO work, they are made of “plastic”… so their “durability” is still in question! When I bought “my” speed loaders, I “thought” that I had researched them thoroughly… but… in the end, my research was futile! When I researched the speed loaders, the “Product Specification” said that these speed loaders were made of METAL… (see the attached picture). It’s because of this FALSE ADVERTISING and DECEPTION that I only give this review 3 Stars!! If I had KNOWN that the speed loaders had been made of plastic, I WOULD NOT have bought them!!

I am sure you have read reviews of these Safailand speedloaders complaining of difficulty in operation and clumsiness. Disregard these reviews -- this is a good product. WITHOUT having read the directions for use, I experimented with this item (for a period no longer than two minutes) and figured out how to quickly load and lock it -- and also how to smoothly release the rounds in the cylinder of my revolver. To load the device: place six rounds in their openings, with the bullets facing up and the device at the bottom; gather them together with your non-dominant hand, then face the entire assembly pointing downwards on a tabletop; press down firmly on the device; and twist the knob until it snaps into place, locking-in the rounds -- done! To load your revolver, swing open the cylinder to its farthest extent; eject spent rounds, if any; start all six new rounds in their respective chambers --there's just enough "wiggle" in the loaded assembly that you can do this; then press it home in the cylinder, automatically depressing the release catch at the center -- again, DONE! What was the "big deal?" I don't get it. As far as price goes, it might be a bit high, considering the materials and engineering involved in producing this device -- but in a "life or death situation," that's really a trivial consideration, I'd say.