I really love my ICE belt pad. The only draw back is the wait. The way I did it was just order it and forget it. I got lucky and placed my order at a period of time when he was just getting to be well known in the gear world. Once everybody saw the belts they all ordered them and cause we are a society with ZERO patience… the battle began with him. Anything custom that is good is gonna have a rough timeline. Look at Jon from Recce gear… He had and still has a back log.
If you have to wait 3-6 or even 9 months… so be it. You will have a nice unexpected surprise when it does come. I know Hobey does not have the best rep due to his one man operation… But hell… Guys are waiting in line 6 years for Larry Vickers to do them a 1911… what 6-9 months.
I totally agree… No pistol is worth 6 years to me, may be to others, but from what I have seen in the custom gear world, it is not unusual to wait up to a year for custom stuff, if you like the guys work and his kit. Most would be served with a BlackHawk piece of kit you can get in 4 days.
Is the pad a required item I needed??? no, I just wanted it cause the design is a good one and the materials and construction were first rate and I will most likely own this belt pad for life and never need another one.
One just has to do his research, understand the pros and cons of custom kit’s made by one man shows and decide. After that, patience is required (and should have been part of the research from the git go)
I used LAV’s 6 year waiting list as a extreme example, I doubt any of the guys on that list are calling and emailing Larry every 2-3 months saying…“Where’s my pistol?”…“Is it done yet?”…“When will it ship??” and then getting on every gun forum in the free world and badmouthing him as a poor business man.
I’ll drop another plug for the blackwater I-O belt. I initially tried to get a TAG and was in terminal order hell with them for months. Actually I ordered that at the same time a bud ordered an ICE belt. I gave up, ordered the I-O from optactical and had it in a week. The ICE belt came in, he used it a couple times and dropped it for the SO Tech version.
FWIW, the BW belt is structured and doesn’t roll over like some of the other slip on pads. It’s more like a less bulky, modular expedition pack belt with a tunnel for the belt pass through. I dropped the included sewn-webbing fastex belt for a Wilderness 5 stitch and haven’t looked back. Beats the snot out of abrading yourself to bone anyway.
I fabbed up a molle adapter for the 2" buckle I use for 6004’s. It was meant to be a stop-gap until I built something more permanent but it’s still plugging along.
The BW belt does have two exposed sections, one on each hip, where the belt is exposed. If that part hits the right spot it would work like normal, for me it’s farther aft than I’d like. I’ll try to shoot a pic between shifts tomorrow…
Ok, now you got me looking at the IO belt. I am thinking that if you were to add a Blackhawk drop leg extender to the 6004 it should clip into the top part of the NARescue loops. They have a 2" buckle on them already…
Those loops should thread through the PALS webbing. I will find out if this part can be ordered alone.
The EMDOM is exactly what I had in mind, but I didn’t have any malice clips handy at the time, but did have webbing and velcro and a sewing machine to abuse. The extender/buckle in the image above is pretty analogous to what I made up in function, either are solid options. I’ll try to get that pic tomorrow if I get a second, it didn’t happen today.
As always with this sort of gear there’s the active used market if it doesn’t work out for whatever reason.
ICE Tactical Battle Belt
Tactical Tailor single shingle X 3
HSGI Single subload
Original SOE dumper
Grimlock
Safariland 6004
Microtech Currahee
Original SOE IFAK
It’s more than most people seem to run. But I don’t like chest rigs (generally). This belt can be run instead of my CIRAS when I need to be able to shoot and move, but don’t need armor.
If you are going with a duty belt set up, defeating ride-up is simple. Stop by your local police supply, or go to a site like Streichers, and buy yourself 4 belt keepers. Belt keepers keep your duty belt attached to your pants belt and prevents shifting.
There are a few different ways, the way I did it is pretty ‘ghetto’ but it works and was cheap. I bolted the holster to a piece of kydex and then used a couple of short MALICE clips to attach the kydex to the webbing.
…and one more thing, if these duty belts fit 1 3/4 belt loops then how would you attach a belt holster with normal 1 1/2 inch slots to a duty belt?
Actually, 1 3/4" seems to be more common for holster loops than 1 1/2" and most holsters are available to fit either size. For example, pretty much everything from Blade-Tech can be adjusted to fit either size.
The problem is that most “duty” belts are 2", but even then there are holsters available to fit them.
ETA, also pay attention to the buckles used on the belts. Many “duty” belts have buckles that cannot be removed so you’ll need a holster that ‘clamps’ onto the belt rather than one that has to slide on.
