I have two FLCs (the Army-issued load bearing gear), one ACU carrying 6 magazines, the other a slightly nicer one in Coyote carrying 8. I'm not exactly thrilled with either of them in terms of comfort or oddly enough, modularity. I've been eyeing these "battle belts" with suspenders for my next load-bearing set. I want something I can clip/fasten/whatever a hydration reservoir to and make it one unit, or remove the reservoir when I don't need it.

Any suggestions? I want to carry a minimum of 4 30-round magazines, a utility pouch or two, and a canteen or two. Maybe a holster for the G19?

I recently got this one:

http://www.tacticaltailor.com/...lightbattlebelt.aspx

I'm still configuring it so there's not yet much to report. The main reason I chose it is because of the mesh & padding inside the belt parts against the body. It feels good worn. The others with the rubbery type turned me off to them.

I'm still working out what/how to hang the things I'll use. A Safariland 6378 & mag carriers, dump pouch, & rifle mags. One of the snags for me is that it's designed for drop-leg, but I'm going to mount my holster at belt height. I paired it with the Elite CO Shooters Belt with Cobra Buckle, and the Tactical Tailor suspenders since I bought it without the belt.

I haven't used a battle belt, so with that caveat in place....


Adding suspenders to a belt, and then going ahead and moving all the weight down to the waist seems counterproductive to me.


You've got the weight on your shoulders where it belongs, why not put most of the gear on your chest? Having gear on your waist is a total pain in the ass if you are sitting in a vehicle for any period of time. And for summer time use it looks like it would be quite hot as well, with the amount of skin coverage you would get from the thick belt + suspenders.


I have a 5.11 chest rig that is simple and light. Some guys really dislike the way that the pouches are sewn and the combination of internal elastic and/or velcro flaps to retain mags, but I have had no problems with either. I bought it just to have a base to attach a Invictus Practical shotgun rig for quad loading, but found it a very hand place to additionally stash rifle and pistol mags.


I don't have enough experience with other chest rigs to say 'This is the one to buy." But I feel comfortable in saying that I can't see any reason to assemble a battle belt with the plethora of chest rigs that are on the market right now.

What do you need the setup to do / what is it for?

Training? TEOTW? Bug out purposes? Competition? Hunting?

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
What do you need the setup to do / what is it for?

Training? TEOTW? Bug out purposes? Competition? Hunting?

This. And do you need provisions for armor inserts? If so, then you're moving up from a chest rig to a plate carrier.

Purpose: Training/TEOTW/Bugout would be most applicable.

No, I don't see me getting armor plates.

I noticed the Army apparently has some new kind of chest rig looking thing in OCP that I assume will replace the FLC. Looks like it MIGHT have provisions to clip on the Camelbak.

As a grunt from the 80s, I am much more comfortable with the old LBE around the waist, as opposed to these vests with the gear up around the midriff. How do you go prone with all that stuff on your chest?? Anyway, we wore them right along the beltline, and kinda loose. That was one thing that had me looking at these 'war belts'.

BTW, Mine is for range/training.

For me prone with a chest rig is easier than prone with a ton of stuff on the front of a belt. If you are shooting a rifle prone, you are usually up on your elbows at the very least. I generally wear mine high on my chest. If I go prone only a small portion is in contact with the ground. Put a mound of gear on the front of a belt and lay down on it and it makes prone really awkward.

Put all that same gear on the back of a belt and you can forget about sitting in a vehicle.

In my experience gear on a belt will want to rotate and shift with every step if you try to run in it. I recently had to set up all my gear (5x rifle mags and 5x pistol mags) along with a rifle and a pistol to do a 5k run and gun event. I tried my standard USPSA setup for pistol and it was a no-go. Wound up moving everything except my pistol to the chest. And I would have moved my pistol there as well if I had owned the gear to properly affix my holster to it. Rifle was slung/partially carried to keep it from bouncing around. Pistol was in a Thumb-Drive retention holster.


Now there may not be any scenarios you are planning for that involve running long distances with your gear. But I can sit/walk/etc for long periods of time with my chest rig on. In my experience there are more everyday situations where stuff on a belt is in the way, than if the same stuff was placed across the pectoral region.


I have never used a camelbak so I can't comment on that at all.

Good quality battle belts are the business. Viking Tactics and Tactical Tailor make good ones.

I also do not like chest rigs... never have. Plate carriers, sure.

During my service, I never had a chance to wear either the FLC (which I consider more of a chest-rig) or a plate carrier. It was always an LBE. When I played airsoft, it was some sort of vest, usually cheap knock-off stuff. I think at one time I had that Arktis 'Battle vest'...it was okay, but not sure I'd repeat that.

Now the FLCs I have, they are "okay" and I kind of get how they would be great if you have a backpack on. You just drop the pack and >boom<, you've got a decent fighting load left. But I can't really see me lugging a pack around.

Seems to me a battle belt and some sort of suspenders might be a nice LBE upgrade.

I have experimented with both chest rigs and battle belts, trying to find a platform to fill most of my needs; training / classes, social unrest security, and civil war typed environments.

I find a fully loaded chest rig to be overly cumbersome and screams "shoot me." Fully outfitted battle belts look similar to society and shift around too much during strenuous activities.

I picked up a light weight blue force gear split minus chest rig and two double ten speed mag pouches. I like this rig quite a bit, and it can be concealed under a jacket. My thought is to pair this with a belt rig that has a side arm, with a spare or two, a M4 mag pouch that can be loaded one handed and a tidy dump pouch. All of it could hide under a jacket it needed, I can load the rifle from the belt first, then feed the belt pouch from the chest rig.

I could still use a back pack for bug out, but not be required to gear up like a Marine to be armed.

For work (police), I wear a black vest with molle loops on it...

I have two (two mag) pouches on each side of the vest for a total of 8 full mags.

No dump pouch.

I figure that if I'm out, toss it. The SBI will want to know where I went and following brass and empty mags will maybe help.

I already wear a gunbelt with pistol, three mags knife, cuffs x2 , radio, OC, Taser, baton, Body mic...and soft body armor (all that is 30 pounds w/o the vest and ammo)

So all in all I carry 270 rounds of 5.56....4 mags on the right and four mags on the right and one in the rifle to begin with...

So a battle belt......I assume the foundation is the belt. Would a London Bridge Trading rigger's belt be suitable?

quote:

Originally posted by Nick:
I have experimented with both chest rigs and battle belts, trying to find a platform to fill most of my needs; training / classes, social unrest security, and civil war typed environments.

I find a fully loaded chest rig to be overly cumbersome and screams "shoot me." Fully outfitted battle belts look similar to society and shift around too much during strenuous activities.

I picked up a light weight blue force gear split minus chest rig and two double ten speed mag pouches. I like this rig quite a bit, and it can be concealed under a jacket. My thought is to pair this with a belt rig that has a side arm, with a spare or two, a M4 mag pouch that can be loaded one handed and a tidy dump pouch. All of it could hide under a jacket it needed, I can load the rifle from the belt first, then feed the belt pouch from the chest rig.

I could still use a back pack for bug out, but not be required to gear up like a Marine to be armed.

Good points. My chest rig is slim enough I can wear a winter coat and I just look a little beefy. I don't think most people would even give me a second look. I guess I can see trying a battle belt for range use or if you only plan to use it while hiking, etc. How do you sit in a vehicle in one? Bending to shoot from a kneeling position is awkward with a ton of gear poking in your gut. I guess I would say try both, but I know around here nobody stocks this kind of stuff. So it is an e-store proposition where you can't try both.

Point Blank plate carrier with mag pouches and camelbak is shtf set up LW plates