Canadian Airgun Forum

Has anyone been able to make these speed loaders work?
I read about these before I got one but since they weren't very expensive I thought I'd try one and see for myself. Only one of my air guns. my M&P40, doesn't have a locking notch and at first I had to retract the spring using my fingernail and hold it while I loaded BB's, which is really hard on the thumbnail...lol.
Since then I've made a half-assed tool out of a roofing nail that I cut and modified and it works OK but there's got to be a better way. I saw a YouTube video where a guy took the speed loader apart and he says it now works OK. Watch the YT video. But even after he did the mods it still didn't seem to work too great. That video was done 9 years ago. It looks like Elon Musk will have people living on Mars before anyone can design a decent speed loader.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc1qoApNCio
Other guys have recommended squirting WD-40 or other lube inside.
And I can't see how the 4 attachments could make anything better. They won't work on any of my air guns, or any air gun that I can see.
From what I see, UMAREX has been selling these for many years and has never improved on the design. I don't understand how they can continue to sell these because as they are they are a very poor designed POS speed loader.
So once again, has anyone found a real solution to making these work?

I have been using this speed loader for couple years now. The mod I did to it is making the outlet hole a bit bigger, it's to small, so the BB can drop out without binding, work's better now. I have made couple follower holder for various mag. Pictures may be more explicite...

SilentMan...

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4.5mm
To many and not enough.

6mm
Not enough and to many.

Yea, I made a holder similar to one of the ones you made but I made mine from a piece of coat hanger. I was considering making it from a piece of flat bar like you did. I found it did the job but I still needed to keep my thumb on it because it could pop off easily so I just cut a roofing nail that has a big flat head to about 2" in length and flattened the cut end so it held the spring compressed OK but either way I still have to hold the tool with my thumb so it doesn't pop off. I find it's simpler just to use the cut nail. I don't know why UMAREX didn't just make a notch in the M&P40 mag like I have on my M92A1 and my M1A1 have so the spring can be held compressed while loading BB's.
I might still try to mod the speed loader like you did and maybe like the guy did in the video. The flimsy plunger is a joke. At least they could have made it out of aluminum or at least some kind of pot metal cuz I imagine quite a few guys broke the plunger the very first time they ever tried to use this crappy speed loader.
I guess the worst thing that might happen if I try to make it work like it's supposed to is that I'd screw it up totally but that's pretty much how it is now anyway.

I made my own speed loaders out of small stainless tubing. I have several for each specific bb gun, as the loaders hold exactly the number needed for that gun. Then I also another loader made out of Al channel that loads each speed loader. It works a treat.
Here is a link to a video from a guy in England that shows how to make them. http://dai.ly/x6g19lg

Yea, I don't know if I'll even bother trying to modify and make the UMAREX speed loader work cuz from what I've seen, even when guys try to improve them they don't work too great.
I saw where guys have used plastic straws and tubing like you suggest and that appears to be simple and works OK.
I was looking for some plastic straws and I saw these stainless steel straws in Walmart. They were $5 for 6 of them. They are smaller OD than a usual plastic straw and a .177 BB fits just about perfect inside them. So I bought a pack and tried them. They work really good for loading. You can load a mag quick and don't lose any bb's. I can custom cut them to length so I don't need to count how many I load them with. My air gun mags are different, holding 15, 18 and 35 bb's so I can cut them as I need. One end is open and already slightly pinched so the bb's can't fall out and on the other end I can still use the silicone rubber tubes that come with them as caps and just remove the caps when I want to load a mag. Now I just need to find a nice little funnel or a bottle with a funnel top that makes it quick and easy to load each of these SS tubes.