10mm ammo and Stribog magazine loader, Sellier & Bellot handgun ammunition.
Pistols, Shooting in General

What Magazine Loader To Use For 10mm Stribog Magazines? .45 UMP Loaders

The Stribog line of subguns, pistols and pistol caliber carbines are really cool. When the brace fiasco erupted, I sold my 9mm SP9A1 and regretted it. When Grand Power said they were coming out with a 10mm, I was an early buyer. One question popped out though – what was out there to help load the 20 round 10mm magazines? I hate loading magazines with stiff springs as many hands start to cramp so I needed to find a loader.

First off, they are HK UMP pattern magazines

The Stribog 10mm mags are nicely made, beefy as hell and based on HK’s UMP magazines. I like that – I am really tired or proprietary mags where you have one and only one option. Using an existing mags opens up options. Now, are UMP magazines all over the place and cheap? No, they aren’t – especially not 10mm mags. HK doesn’t make 10mm UMP magazines any longer.

Two clear 10mm Auto Stribog magazines with visible rounds, showcasing magazine loader compatibility.
The 20 round magazines have stout springs and it takes a lot of work to manually insert cartridges

Real HK 10mm mags have starting costs around $139 but are 30 rounds so there is a perk for the price. Considering Stribog mags list at $45 and can sometimes be found for $39.99, I’ll stick with Stribog mags.

Stribog 10mm magazines are built like a tank

This is both a pro and a con. The top sports a lot of reinforcements making for a quite a large magazine in terms of circumference. They will not fit inside a Maglula Universal loader – I had hoped they would but it is a no-go.

Two magazine loaders side by side, one empty and one loaded with 10mm Stribog bullets
The girth of the heavily built mags means most loaders will not fit them. On the other hand, those are some impressive reinforcements on the mag lips and thick walls.
Measuring Stribog 10mm magazine width with digital calipers, reading 1.6215 inches.
Front to back is about 1.62″
Calipers measuring a Stribog 10mm magazine loader, reading 1.1420 inches.
Left to right is approximately 1.14″
Hand measuring magazine loader with Mitutoyo caliper on a wooden surface
Distance from the botttom of the locking tab to the top of the magazine body is about 0.96-0.97. It’s molded so there’s a bit of ballparking as to the exact top.
Mitutoyo Absolute digital caliper measuring 0.1800 inches on wooden surface
The magazine locking tab is about 0.18″ thick.

Playing a hunch

Ok, so I did some searching on .40 caliber and 10mm UMP loaders and then played a hunch. I make magazines for Rock Island Armory’s A2 HC .40 and 10mm pistols. They use a staggered magazine and my source tube for the custom mags I make is actually a Mec-Gar .45 mag. What if a UMP .45 loader would work? I had a pretty good hunch it would so I started researching them.

The UMP .45 is much more common so I had options. The one that caught my eye was from Custom Smith so I ordered it and must say I am impressed.

It is 3D printed and nicey done. Everything seems thick enough to have proper rigidity. I like finger rests on the sides to give your hand something to get hold of. I promptly loaded two mags super easy. You push down, slide the cartridge in part way, lift the loader up, slide the cartidge in the rest of the way and repeat.

.45 UMP magazine loader with ".45 Pew" text and gear symbol, used for loading Stribog magazines.
Side shot
Close-up of a black magazine loader with a T-shaped slot, suitable for Stribog or UMP magazines.
The ram that pushes the cartridges done is beefy and nicely done.
Inside view of a black magazine loader, possibly for a 10mm Stribog magazine.
Inside is nice and clean also.
Hand loading a .45 ACP magazine with a magazine loader. Text on loader says ".45 ACP".
The UMP .45 loader fits great.
Close-up of a magazine loader with a 10mm Stribog magazine and a.45 UMP loader in the background
The ram does a great job pushing the last cartridge down so you can slide the base of the next cartridge part way in. You then move the loader out of the way, push the cartridge all of the way in and move on to the next round.
Hand holding black magazine loader with 45 Pew logo for 10mm Stribog
Parting photo – it works great.

Summary

Grand Power Stribog’s 10mm model uses magazines based on the HK UMP design. The Grand Power magazines are affordable and relatively easy to find. You may need to dig just a bit as the 10mm Stribog sales are outpacing magazine availability but I am sure the mag availability will catch up.

To load the stiff magazines and save your fingers, get a UMP .45 loader. I went with Custom Smith’s UMP .45 loader and have no hesitation recommending it.

No, I wasn’t paid to write this – I had to buy it because I wanted the 10mm Stribog and manual mag loading kills my hands.

By the way, S&B 180 grain FMJ 10mm is my goto range ammo. It’s affordable and runs great. I use it for breaking in and target practice with all of my 10mms.

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