Having tried the plunger type speed loaders without much success, I switched to using what I call "Pea-Shooter" loaders which consist of a long hollow tube through which you ram BB's into your magazine using a loading rod. The latter is slow and it's very easy to spill BB's especially when the magazine vomits them back at you.
So, when I saw the Odin Innovations M12 Sidewinder Speed Loader, I was intrigued.
WHAT IT DOES
It enables you to fill about 1600 BB's into its sizable hopper, push the business end of an empty M4 Mid-Cap mag into the bottom of it until it clicks and then crank BB's into your magazine at the rate of around 12 BB's per crank revolution.
DOES IT WORK ?
Yes it seems to. I've successfully used standard metal M4 mid-caps, PTS EPM and Evike BAMF mid-caps with it.
The theory is that when the magazine is full, an integral clutch will signal this to your cranking hand. I tried filling an EPM to the max and sure enough I felt resistance on the crank after twelve or thirteen revolutions. Generally though, I tend to only fill my mid-caps to about 60 rounds and treat them as low-caps, so they don't get a hard life with me.
THE COOL BIT
What I really like about this speed loader is the following in order of preference:
1. The crank is normally folded in and flush for storage, but when you fold it out and start cranking, the 12BB's per rotation allows you to measure pretty accurately how many rounds you are loading.
I wanted about 30 rounds in my EPM so gave the crank three rotations - emptying the mag manually after, I had 31 rounds inside and 2 dropped out from the loading nozzle when I disconnected the mag for use, so what should have been 36 was 33, but it's close enough.
When I filled the EPM to capacity, I manually emptied it and counted. It had contained 155 rounds before the clutch gave me the good news.
2. It's fast and there is little spillage. You can load a mag in about 30 seconds. The two-BB spillage per load is pretty consistent. Great for Milsims where you need to reload your four mags back at the FOB or ammo cache and the OPFOR could be breathing down your neck any second or you get redeployed and your patrol is about to move out.
3. The beige clip that you can see on the loader in the top photo is the magazine release. The mags click in firmly when pushed up and is held securely while you are crank-loading. Depressing this clip afterwards, allows the mag to be removed from the loader.
4. The loader has a large aperture and sliding door on the feeder entrance so its really easy to pour BB's in when you are filling and close it afterwards to stop spills. The door is a bit like a sliding hi-cap one only this one is a lot bigger !
5. It will fit in a double M4 pouch so you can carry it with you (if your game rules allow). I probably wouldn't use this feature but its handy to be able to store it in your kit pouches when you're at home, so it doesn't get left behind.
IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER
Keep the Speed Loader and magazine vertical when cranking, so gravity can do its job. Got caught out by this when I couldn't work out why the BB's weren't going into my mag.
WHAT'S IT NOT GOOD FOR ?
* - Hi-cap magazines
* - AK, 9mm and non-M4/AR15 shaped magazines
* - 7.62mm magazines
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST ?
At the time of going to press, one of these costs about £60-65 in the UK including mainland delivery.
