I’m in the market for a REAL stiff gun belt that will work with the gear I train with at the range (Pistol, x2 Pistol mags, x2 PMags) but will still work for a daily use CCW belt (Pistol and mag).
I run my equipment pretty far forward (10:00 and 2:00) and have become frustrated with my Wilderness Tactical belt with its excess velcro tounge and how it’s too long to velcro down with the my spare mags in the way. (Maybe just get a smaller size?)
Either way, if you guys could offer suggestions, that would be awesome.
For Carry, I use the Wilderness belt or a Kramer Leather belt. As a long-time user of the Kramer, I love its stiffness and quality, but the Rigger type belts are great for everyday carry: Even though they lack the same level of stiffness, their infinite amount of adjustibility is optimal for the real world of “fatter” days, layers of clothing changes, or after a big meal losening things up a little without the gun flopping all over. IE: no more “between holes” scenarios like with the leather.
I’m running all Raven gear, I’ve heard that you have to take the buckle off of the Ares belt in order to thread it through the belt loops. Is this true? And if so, is it hard/annoying to take the buckle on and off?
I don’t want to speak for Ares, but you have to unthread/thread his buckle for every holster. If the belt loops are large enough to fit the buckle through, that particular holster probably isn’t going to hold very firmly to your side.
The process is the exact same as what you have been doing with your Wilderness belt. You un-thread/thread that one each time, same as Ares.
Given the strength and rigidity of that belt and the lack of anything like velcro or a significant tail, it’s completely worth the extra few seconds it takes to don/doff.
Threading/unthreading the buckle takes as much time as it does to tie your shoes. You put the running end of the webbing through a slot in the buckle, over a bar and through another slot. Tighten to taste, tuck the tail under a belt loop, then throw your hands in the air to show the judges you’ve completed your dismount.
I have to take the buckle off to get it through my pants, so taking it off to get it through my gear is no biggie.
The fit of a single mag pouch forces a bit of a bend in the belt that makes it hard to slide the pouch into place but that’s no big deal.
To add to what Tom said, when you put the belt on with all of your gear, you will unthread the buckle, just as you would a Wilderness belt. Once everything is on, you use the cobra buckle as a “seat belt” type buckle and the tension is the same. With a Wilderness, you tighten it each time.
The belts will be more than stiff enough for ya, and they work just fine with the Raven holsters.
I’ve been using a riggers belt for about 8 years now, but, with the gear I’m hanging off of them, they always always fold up.
They’re not nearly rigid enough.
A perfect solution, for me, would be a 1.75" plastic-reinforced rigger’s belt. I’m looking into the cobra belts, but donning/doffing gear seems like it would be a pain in the ass. Also, I am not sure how the adjustability of the sizing works. With a rigger’s belt, one of the biggest pluses has been the ability for it to adapt to various situations, adjustment-wise.
Recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Pics if you got 'em.
I’ve used riggers belts, or contractor belts or whatever they’re called and they work ok. I prefer leather and buy all my belts from Bullhide Belts. They don’t have that “tacticool look” but they sure as hell are substantial and they work.
Ares Aegis belt. You can control the amount of unused slack by mearuring how much you want and order the appropriate size. No buckle removal need and you’ll get the same strength of the Rabger belt for load carriage.
The base of the design is two layers of stiff scuba webbing sandwiched between two layers of flat webbing. This is a VERY stiff belt even in the most stripped down setup. The buckle used is a 1” Cobra buckle, since the body of the belt is wider than the buckle, there is nothing to stab you in the guts up front on the belt and the buckle cinches down just as tight and secure as it’s wider brethren.
I just started using a Volund Gear works g-hook belt. Extremely stiff yet still comfortable, and it is very easy to take items on / off due to the design.
For every day use I’ve used a nice, simple, cheap Uncle Mikes instructors belt for years. More than adequately stiff to support the OWB PPS I carry, simple and quick to thread, very durable. I’ve used riggers belts…didn’t find them stiff enough. I have a Volund Gearworks G-hook, found it to be bulky and cumbersome to put on and take off, and harder to thread. The VG was well-made, but otherwise not a useful every day belt IMHO. For range use I prefer a CR Speedbelt (BladeTech Competition belt…same thing).