Got my D-60's, what a pain in the azz to load!

[renovate7]

So I've watched the youtube videos etc. Looks like the easiest way is sitting down with it in your lap. And you better have a heck of a strong left thumb, hopefully not 65 years old. Load at the rang, no way. And how long is that plastic lever going to last. If it breaks they become a throw away. I think I'll put these on the shelf and stick with my 30 rounders.

 

[strobro32]

Mine arrive tomorrow. I hope I have a better loading experience. I will report back.

 

[root]

Thanks for the heads up.

I was thinking they would be as easy to load as saiga 12 or scorpion Evo drums with the lever I see in the pix.

Wonder why no one makes a 556 drum that loads like the chinese drums or suomi where the back just opens then wind em and go.

 

[chili17]

Yup, they are terrible to load

 

[Grant435]

I was told they are difficult to load, if I wanted 60 rounds I think I would just load 2 30 round mags and connect them side by side. Will take a few seconds to switch to next mag but I think all the convenience of that is worth it. Maybe if the drum held more rounds it could be worth it. I don’t have any experience with 100 round drum

 

[Eurodriver]

I have 8 of them. I bought an 8 pack from Arms Unlimited for like $729 or something a while ago.

I have used them for years - never thought they were terribly difficult to load and the plastic lever has never broken. I am not 65 years old though.

 

[LawBob]

I don’t have one but I thought the latest gen had a relief way of taking spring pressure off.

 

[Donut77donut]

I don’t think they’re bad to load at all.

 

[renovate7]

Just loaded 20 more rounds. When the swelling goes down in my thumb I'll load the last 20.

 

[Uncle Billy]

yeah, like was stated those load like the Soviet era AK 75 round drums. in which you manipulate a lever to load a round at a time, I would find that tedious...........for me, I prefer a 100 round BETA drum, where you can load 10 rounds on stripper clip at a time using their stripper clip loader

 

[RevolverJockey]

I have one and wish I didn’t.
Lee

 

[Uncle Billy]

well, just for $hits and giggles went on YOUTUBE and found a video of a old codger loading a D60 rather quickly

some of us old codgers, which I count myself one of those , can make, modify or find an easier way to do things


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bKsBebw7ts

I hated how to load a SAIGA12 20 round drum. so 20 years ago I modified it to load it from the back .


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QibHig8B3II&lc=UgyITGv0vRilArALgJt4AaABAg.9hV9HUWFL8G9hcXv1k4dEx


I modified several other loaders that is on my channel, which are a one of kind, along with making drums

 

[A&S Conversions]

I have found that the AR Lula loader works great with the Beta-C drum. Since the Beta-C tower is plastic, using the 10 round stripper clip loader, wears the feed lips much faster. I was only getting 5 to 10 reloads per feed tower from the stripper clip loader.

Scott

 

[Galil#1]

Man Up Snowflakes, it's not that bad at all Ha Ha!

 

[JohnnyE]

To aid with D-60 loading, I am considering getting a Polymer 80 lower and hacking it up a bit (to allow for the flapping feed lip to operate), latch in the D-60, and clamp the other end of the lower in a vise.

 

[10mmlover]

I found that if I put on a thick welding glove to do the thumb ratcheting, it wouldn't hurt/get tired anywhere near as fast.

 

[RevolverJockey]

I think they really missed the mark on these. Do they work? Yeah. Can they be loaded? Yeah. Do they cost as much as 12 pmags and take as long to load as 12 mags with a maglula? Yeah. Overall I consider it a fail. Out of spite I store my D60 next to my Suomi drums which are easier and faster to load and designed 90 years ago.

 

[Deerhurst]

I didn't think the D60 was difficult to load. I'd say it wasn't as bad as a S12 drum.


DP27/27/M drums suck to load. Those are now my gold standard of sucky to load.

 

[A&S Conversions]

I don't have experience with the D60. I have had a great deal of experience with Beta-C drums (I own 10, half in AR 5.56X45 and the other half 9mm in various towers) and I have found that stripper clip speed loaders tear up the plastic towers. They are fast but after five to ten loadings I'll start having double feeds. Since Magpul is known for polymer products, I would think that Magpul towers would tend to have the same issues as the Beta-C towers with stripper clip speed loaders.

I have had great results with LULA loaders with Beta-C towers. I would recommend trying an AR LULA loader for the D60 drums. They work relatively easy. They are not as fast as a stripper clip system, but they are much more gentle on plastic feed towers.

Scott

 

[Uncle Billy]

Since the Beta-C tower is plastic, using the 10 round stripper clip loader, wears the feed lips much faster. I was only getting 5 to 10 reloads per feed tower from the stripper clip loader.

well, easy fix for that that, if you are capable of doing it, is to replace the BETA feed tower with a modified 20 round M16 mag.

but I've already told you about that over 2 years ago

http://www.uzitalk.com/forums/showthread.php?93821-My-Bulgarian-SLR-106ur-with-a-Drum