Battle Belt vs. Plate Carrier Type Gear
 

Need to get some gear to carry some mags when I'm on the field playing. Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on like a battle belt versus a plat carrier or chest rig type system. Thanks for everyone's thoughts!

All about muscle memory and weight. Where you place your pouches in correspondence to your needs. I have a PC and. Belt. I run about 5 mags on my PC + 1 buddy mag and 4 on my belt and one in the gun. Where you place your mags at this point is all preference to your Kit.

Chest rig light wear. That’s all
Dependent as well. But I would wear one for sniping, DMR or LMG. But that’s me.

Typically a Battle Belt is worn/used in conjunction with a Plate Carrier. Both of them allow you to spread out load carriage rather than just having weight on your shoulders. A quality PC with an elastic cummerbund really helps with weight though. Really does boil down to personal preference as PC's don't do anything in airsoft other than carry some necessary game items and look cool.

That having been said I run a Battle Belt with PC. I usually carry two rifle mags and 3 pistol mags on my belt plus an IFAK and pistol holster. The goto mag for speed reloads are on my belt line.

On my PC I run 4 rifle mags. I could carry more but I don't find it necessary.

Watch Tactical rifleman on YouTube. Few videos on kit

Both together. Unless you just want a fast mag or two for scrims, then both. Battle belts are great for quick access, like a pistol, pistol mags, maybe a couple fast mags and a butt pack with a couple small items, but the don’t really have the real estate to load you out for a day.

Modern battle belts and plate carriers are lightweight and low profile. Together they create a well balanced poadout system and comfortable weight distribution.

Good examples

Battle belt: Ronin Senshi

Notice how short it is and how it’s design will stop it from shifting around on you. This thing can nearly tow a truck and can be used for anything from gun fighting to repelling. This is just one belt of this style. Grey Ghost and a few others make similar equipment.
https://www.ronintactics.com/uploads..._i3_w1500.jpeg



Plate Carrier: First Spear STY

At just big enough to cover your vital organs, it provides a decent amount of real estate without making you too heavy. Laser cut molle, quick release straps and the ability to run hoses and cables internally. Optional pontoon system if you want to make it more breathable.
https://www.first-spear.com/media/ca...te-mg_8819.jpg

Usually you would use both but if you're only going to get one, start with the plate carrier. In fact - look at chest rigs instead. Because we won't die if we're hit by a BB, a chest rig sometimes makes more sense and isn't as hot/stuffy as a plate carrier. Plate carriers do protect against the small pain of being hit by a BB, so decide whether you want to endure hotter experience for that protection.

I personally use a belt at all times, and I have a chest rig and PC. I use the plate carrier when I expect close range cqb, and a chest rig on longer range field play.


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Check out persecgear.ca for your belt. Canadian made and amazing quality!

This 100%. My entire group of guys run his belts; they are absolutely awesome.

As to your inquiry, it honestly depends. I personally like plate carriers for the real estate; most chest rigs just can't carry as much. Granted, chest rigs are much lighter and breathe much more easily.

You don't really need to look at a belt setup unless you have a secondary or find yourself lacking real estate on your PC or chest rig.

I disagree with this statement relying on Pc real estate.


In the end look at it like this.


You’re distributing weight all around your body with your kit. Too much on one part will put stress on your body.

Example:

Belt. You put too much weight here and your back and hips will regret it over a decent time period.

PC. Too much on one side will cause that one side of your body to compensate. Same, your hips, back, knees etc.. same with a chest rig. Because there isn’t much real estate in the back unless you attach a pack harness all of your weight is forward. This will cause your lower back to work hard.


Most people set up their kits incorrectly. I se people with 74828478 mag pouches on them. That’s ridiculous. Or things like ridiculously oversized admin pouches. You don’t need that. I have 5 mag pouches with the triple mag pouch and pistol mags on the front. Double on one side and a weapon catcher in the other. Hydration on the back and. Radio that’s it.

Belt has 4 mag pouches, 2 on each side. A dump pouch, a knife, Kydex grenade holder, double smoke pouch, gadget pouch for my phone and to hold anti dog wipes also a buddy mag pouch on the back. And I have a drop leg Holster.

That’s it. This works for me because of what I use and how I roll. If I were to change anything I would get rid of the triple kangaroo pouch and just havea Triple and move pistol mags off somewhere else making it more flat for the front to get low.

That's only people who do it wrong. Most proper (real steel) PC setups have a better load carrying capability than most chest rigs BECAUSE it distributes the weight over the body.

My PC QASMs on a D3 chest rig, has a pack attached to the back panel, and has a kydex grenade clip, a PTT, and a knife attached to the front loop/PALS field. Cummerbunds are kept slick so there's full range of movement to access anything hanging off my belt although Perroz offers a most excellent elastic cummerbund that lets you stick shit in it while it still seems slick. While theoretically I could load it with shit tons more, I don't have a need to and could technically replace it with just the standalone D3 harness. The problem there is that I find the PC much more comfortable in distributing the weight over my entire body as opposed to the chest rig putting all the pressure on my shoulders, especially with the pack weighing it down.

My belt is run to be as clean as possible. A double kydex pistol mag carrier at 10 o'clock, an emergency kydex rifle mag carrier at 8 o'clock, a general purpose utility pouch for grenades or snacks or an emergency dump pouch at 6 o'clock, an IFAK at 5 o'clock, and a kydex holster for my PX4 at 3 o'clock.

Honestly you sound like you load yourself up way more than I do. You don't need immediate access to a bajillion mags; I carry 5 mags +1 in the rifle and I think I've only ever had to ask a buddy to borrow a mag or to grab spares from my pack once. As I plan on loading up for grenades for upcoming events, my PC offers me the real estate to add more grenade clips very easily whereas most chest rigs don't give you that capability.

OP it depends on you and your planned setup. Just buy good quality gear when you do; real load bearing gear is vastly different from replica/repro/airsoft grade junk.

So - to answer the OP’s question - you can’t generally can’t rely on just a belt to sustain you unless it’s for very short engagements and you can return back to a staging area to re-equip.

Find a good real steel plate carrier or chest rig - the classifieds are one of the best places to find good kit at a good deal.

When it comes to setting up your gear, as you can see from the discussion in this thread, there are many opinions on what you can carry and where to place it. The rule of thumb everyone here can agree on is don’t carry more than you need. I’d suggest starting light so you don’t buy more pouches etc than you need...and depending on what happens during your games, add or remove stuff as needed.


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5 mags works for mid caps but if you’re running 30rd real caps for 300 rounds than you’re using 10 mags.

^ OP, if there is one thing you take away from this thread, its this.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll take a look into some variances and determine what to go with based on what I want to carry. Probably only gonna want a M4 pouch or 2 and a pistol pouch or two to start off.

Thanks!

Many PCs are small and breathable. Players aren’t wearing them for protection from BVs, they are wearing them for the multiple advantages they have over chest rigs, vests, etc. Too many advantages to mention, but weight distribution, comfort, modularity, efficiency, are just a few. They certainly can be more hot, but the low profile modern ones are not a problem, especially if you wear the right garment underneath.

I like the belt setup for skirmishes. You are faster, lighter and won't die to over heating on those warm days.

I run both for milsim games. PC holds 6+1 and belt holds 1 (thinking of making it 2 soon) plus 1 pistol mag pouch.

Seems to work for me, and often I don't even get to use all 8 (or 9 with the one in the gun) before having a chance to reload at base.

Play around with it, start small. Work from there.

You got pockets, those are good enough.

if you run out of pockets your pants fly can be opened to store one more in a quickdraw format.

I wore a battle belt on myself and it is very heavy in itself. My back even started to hurt. And then I put an Inguinal hernia support belt under him. And it turned out much easier. The belt helped me with loads on my back.

I can attest to this, I wore a battle belt setup for only a year and had to switch to a PC and belt setup, it was just too hard on my lower back and hips. Because you're carrying all your gear in on small area of your body it takes a toll.
Distributing the weight across my body helped immensely

Start with a good, stiff belt and build from there; but if you're going to carry a ton of stuff, then invest in good 2nd line gear to help distribute the load properly.

I'm a big fan of velcro inner/outer setups myself, and both of my Pekan Wiski (1st and 2nd gen) have treated me very well and held up to a lot of use with no signs of wear yet. If you're more partial to the battle belt style setup, then I'd steer you toward an HSGI suregrip belt, as I've had great luck with those too.

As far as a carrier goes, the sky is the limit; it all depends on how much crap you plan on hanging off it, and what your budget is.

When I first started out shooting, I ran a Ferro Concepts slickster with Spiritus chassis that served me very well. After getting more into/more invested in shooting, I upgraded to a Crye AVS.

One thing I will say if you're going to use a carrier/chest rig for airsoft; unless you're going to run plates in them, stay away from the Esstac KYWI rifle mag pouches; they're so tight that without some weight to hold it down, your entire carrier will lift up when you try to pull a mag

YMMV for airsoft, but for reference, my setup for real steel shooting is:

1st line- Pekan Wiski Belt
-2x Esstac KYWI pistol mag pouches (the best, IMO)
-1x Esstac KYWI tall M4 rifle mag w/shotgun loops
-1x HSGI Taco pistol mag pouch
-1x HSGI Taco pistol mag pouch (old style w/ flap)
-Safarliand 6354DO on a mid drop QLS fork

2nd Line- Crye AVS
-1x Crye front molle panel
-1x Esstac KYWI Triple M4 mag
-2x HSGI single pistol taco
-1x BFG small admin pouch
-1x Ferro concepts dangler
-1x HSGI m4/pistol taco
-1x Tyr flashbang pouch
-1x Crye MBITR pouch
-1x Ferro FCPC back panel
-1x Persec TQ holder