Gearing up!

Must. Reload. Faster!

So I'm gearing up to shoot a small local 3-gun match this weekend. Unfortunately, we are fairly void of big 3-gun matches here in the deep southeast. The nearest major matches are at Rockcastle and the Tarheel in NC, which are a days drive from where I live in Augusta, so hitting all the local matches is a must for me.


I've pretty much ramped up my 3-gun gear to the extreme in the last few months, and I plan on doing an in-depth video series on essential 3-gun gear in the next couple of weeks.

Today I wanted to talk about my belt. I try to keep it as simple and light as possible while still adequately supplying me for each stage. Some of you may be surprised to know that (SHOCKER) I use my pants pockets to carry AR mags! So here's what I'm running with above:

1. Double Alpha Belt: This is a rigid 2-piece belt system which utilizes a bottom belt which goes inside your belt loops and velcro's to the outer belt. The outer belt holds all your caddies and holsters. This is nice because you can take off the outer belt in between stages. You also can set it up one time and then forget about it. Mine is a 1.5 inch model, and they come in wider versions. Generally, you choose a belt which is one size larger than your pants waist size.
2. Blade-Tech Revolution Glock 34 holster: Blade-tech and Safariland make top-quality kydex holsters for competition and are legal in IDPA and USPSA. I chose the Blade-tech due to cost, specificity for my Glock 34, and approved status is competition. It is very light and secure.
3. California Competition Works 4-shell shotgun caddies: I've used both 4 and 6 shell caddies, and I now prefer 4 shell caddies since they make grabbing the shells from the belt easier. The downside is you have to have more of them on your belt. These caddies are seriously fast. I keep them positioned at 12:00 and 1:00 on my belt for strong hand reloading. Currently I have 3 of these and a couple of Choate 6-shell caddies on standby for big shotgun stages. I like this setup for now, but may be going to the Load-2 or Quad-Load in the future.
4. Uncle Mike's Double Stack Handgun Mag Carrier: I've had this thing for about 5 years now. It's simple and it works.I have often though about trading it out for single mag carriers to save belt space, but haven't been able to see the benefit in spending the extra money. This one does the job and allows me to keep a slave mag on my belt to get an extra round in the chamber to start stages.
5. Safariland AR Mag Pouch: This is a simple 1-mag pouch that goes on my back hip for emergencies or malfunctions. I start with a 48-round PMAG/Nordic extension so that usually gets me through most rifle stages. I keep a 30 round PMAG downloaded to 28 in this caddy.  This is new, as I usually just carry a PMAG in my back left pocket. I've only ever had to use it once before, but it was slow. So I figured this was an inexpensive insurance policy.

That's my gear belt for now. It's an ever-evolving process. Look for videos on all my 3-gun gear coming up soon!

Be safe and see you next time.
~Mac