HSGI Sure-grip Battle Belt

I recently had need of a new battle belt for work and decided that I'd like to upgrade beyond what was offered in the military stock system, so I purchased a HSGI sure-grip padded belt.  I have used quite a few different battle belt rigs over the years, from a standard duty belt to my unit standard Tactical Assault Gear (TAG) belts.  I have worn belts with no sub-load panels, with both leg panels, with holster attached to the belt and not.  So many ways to solve the problem.  

Hit the jump and have a look.

Before I go any further, let me explain battle-belts just a little.  In the military we classify our combat loadouts in 3 classes.  1st line through 3rd line.  1st line gear is gear I MUST have at a bare minimum to get by in a combat environment.  A pistol, ammo, medical kit, escape and evasion kit (E&E) and etc.  2nd line gear then is the gear supporting my primary weapon.  My armor rig, rifle, radio, utility pouch, etc.  And then 3rd line gear is mission add-on or spare materials that I can cache such as bolt cutters, spare uniforms, assault pack, sleep system, etc.  My belt is going to carry most of my 1st line items.  And so for me, my belt is part of my bare minimum operating rig.  I can still run a pistol and rifle from my belt without my Armor (2nd line) or pack (3rd line).  My needs differ from yours and I have to place armor over my belt.  Just bear in mind if you are in the market for one of these belts ensure it is meeting YOUR actual needs.  My belt rig will serve me in combat and still be useful for off-duty range trips too even if it looks a little funny for the extras.

For the TAG (Tactical Assault Gear) belts I have used, there were a few things I didn't like about them but was able to work around since they were the best thing offered by my unit at the time.  First, the belt doesn't grip well to me, especially when wet so I have the habit of ALWAYS wearing suspenders on any battle belt I wear.  This gives me the added benefit that I can unclip the belt and it hangs at my waist without having to hold it or completely put it down (excellent for pee stops!).  There isn't a dedicated suspender loop point anywhere, so I have to give up precious MOLLE real-estate to attach my suspenders of choice (HSGI as well coincidentally).  Then, I like my belt to grip tight to the waist, I'm not into sagging or having it slip around my knees when running.  This requires that the buckle be adjustable and stay where it is adjusted too.  I always had to draw the cinch straps and then twist them up and pack them back into the belt to prevent slipping of the buckles.  Annoying but not so terrible.  MOLLE real estate is decent, but they left out the middle strips, so theres only two points, top and bottom.  Sometimes I need gear to sit a little lower or higher due to wearing an armor vest so this meant sacrificing and sometimes looser than I want attachments to the belt since there is only the one bar to weave to if I need something to sit lower.  I improvised around this with my 9MM blackhawk mag holders by weaving some 550 cord through the top bar and using the loops as a faux middle connection, preventing them from sliding up or down on the one bar they have.  And lastly, there is no pass-through of the belt, meaning that I can't use my own belt or tuck anything up in it without doing some serious modifications which would affect its strength and integrity. Overall, it worked and I got the job done with what I was given and it was mostly comfortable for a battle belt, but I always knew things could be better.

VTAC Brokos padded

HSGI Sure-grip padded

So, I did some research and looked at a large number of belts and came to two choices.  The HSGI Sure-grip, or VTAC Brokos.  The HSGI belt is rubberized on the back and it is very grippy.  I'm a boat guy so I'm wet a lot and so far it holds well.  I could probably go without the suspenders and be fine but I wear armor which tends to push belts lower and lower over time worn.  I ordered a medium since I'm a size 34 but in hindsight would prefer a large since it would come around my front more completely.  I have just a few inches of gap with the medium and that's perfectly fine.  This belt addressed all my complaints with the TAG belt.   It has suspender points without using up a MOLLE slot.  It has a full 3-bar MOLLE platform.  I can pass my own belt through it, and being SERE trained, it presents some great hiding spots for E&E stuff.  Having the belt run through it, it also has 3 cut-outs at 3, 6, and 9 o'clock to attach sub-loads directly to the belt, again without using up MOLLE real-estate.  

My reasons for not going with the VTAC Brokos belt were pretty basic.  While I would certainly use it and think its a great product that is fairly comparable to the HSGI, the one primary reason for turning away was that in order to expose and make use of the run-through belt, you sacrifice 2 MOLLE tacks for each position you make use of the interior belt and then there are only 2 rows like on my TAG belt.  The HSGI incorporated the 3 pass throughs which I found very convenient, and that was my final decision point.

The HSGI doesn't come with a belt to use, and I didn't have a rigger's belt long enough to use with it so I dug out an older London Bridge Trading (LBT) duty-belt and recommissioned it for use here.  That was when I hit my first hangup.  The inside channel is hook-and-loop lined (hard/loop-side).  Most rigger's and duty belts are hook-and-loop soft side lined.  So when trying to pass through the battle belt, I would have had to fight the hook-and-loop all the way around.  I pulled out some wax paper and wrapped my duty-belt and it went through fairly easily then.  Once I pulled the wax paper out, the belt attached and become very solid, but getting it back out won't be pleasant.  I intend on getting a larger rigger's belt with the newer Cobra-style buckle to use with it in the future.  The other hangup being that I had to sub-load my 3 mag shingle to a thigh panel.  I don't mind that for more static type work, but if I'm patrolling or expecting to hump some distance I don't like anything attached to my legs that can rub or chafe.  I'll have to keep an eye out for some other solution to this issue.

Tourni/Shears, Mag shingle, Dump, IFAK, Gloves/pistol lanyard, Serpa Dropped, SOG Knife/MT

My battle belt rigs vary depending on what I am doing.  For instance, I keep my blow-out kit off my belt so that it is readily available if needed for any emergency (car accident for example), and I put it on when I'm working.  The primary change now is that I removed a 3 M4 and 9MM shingle off my vest and wanted to place it on my belt so I could get a little flatter in the prone position.  I couldn't get it to sit low enough to ride well with armor on so I put it on a thigh sub-load panel.  I also moved my Serpa drop extension off of the MOLLE and placed it directly on the belt.  I now have some extra MOLLE in front of the pistol so I attached my SOG Seal-pup and multi-tool just ahead of that, and I'm considering adding a small and thin utility pouch over my magazines on the belt.  I haven't bothered yet, but want to place a bright light pouch someplace convenient as well.  Since I have freed up extra space with this belt, I'm also going to place my trauma shears and a tourniquet directly on the belt using some velcro tape.  After adding the HSGI Suspenders, it feels very comfy and solid.  With my pistol in the holster, it balances very well, which is important for comfort on longer humps.

I'm not sure what I want to do with the old TAG belt now, but I kept some 9mm mag holders on it.  I'll probably go ahead and rig it up as a secondary and leave it at work in case someone needs a loaner for a day.  I might just rig it up strictly for range use.  As I said, so many options...