The best gun belts to carry the essentials

Eagle Industries has been in the gear game for decades, and it shows. They made our list of the best magazine pouches, and they have a heavy representation in my personal gear ensemble. Their Operator Gun Belt, or OGB, stands above most other belts on the market because of its unique Velcro construction, specifically requested by “end users” (it’s the SEALs, guys) to work over things like wetsuits and warming layers. Available in common sizes and colorways, the Eagle Operator Gun Belt is the best overall gun belt on this list.

The largest advantage of the OGB is the fact that, unlike many other gunfighter belts on the market, it features loop-side Velcro on the inside of the belt, rather than hook side. Eagle does this for two reasons. First, this was specifically requested so as not to abrade any clothes that it’s worn over, and second, because they claim that this provides a much more secure fit while moving with heavy objects on one’s belt, due to the hook-side Velcro on the inner belt being spread out when the belt is wrapped around your body. Under my usual belt load of three magazines, a dump pouch, and an IFAK, I didn’t notice an increase in stability over my usual AWS SMU belt (featured later), but I also don’t consider that a heavy load, or my testing regimen of running, jumping, and crawling to be exceptionally tough on the Velcro.

An advantage that the Eagle OGB absolutely has over lesser options not picked for this list is that the build quality is rock solid, and I’ve personally never seen an Eagle product that wasn’t finished well. The belt is made of durable MIL-W-4088 Nylon webbing, stiffened with high-density polyethylene, and featuring an aluminum cobra buckle closure with an aluminum D-ring to serve as a rigger’s belt. The MOLLE webbing is smaller than the usual straps, but thicker, which helps compensate for any stability issues when mounting pouches, and overall I didn’t notice any issues once my magazine pouches were fully mounted.

A final advantage is that Eagle products often go on sale around the holidays, and I personally purchased an OGB for nearly half price. Ordinarily, Eagle provides 10 percent discounts to all military personnel as well, which reduces the cost somewhat, and provides an extra edge over some of the other products on the list.

It’s not all sunshine though, and the Eagle OGB has several distinct limitations that you have to consider before buying, with the first one being the Velcro system. Most gunfighter belts use hook-side Velcro on the outer belt, which connects to the inner belt that has a loop-side facing out. If you are switching from another belt system to the Eagle OGB, you’ll likely need to get a new inner belt or take the time to reform your inner belt to curve the other way without much difficulty to expose the other side of the Velcro. For me personally, I use a modified USMC MCMAP belt with loop-side Velcro sewn around the outside, so to switch to the Eagle belt would require me to make a new belt, or risk getting some raised eyebrows at a black inner belt that’s not an MCMAP belt.

Another issue is the value proposition of the Eagle OGB. On sale, the belt is a no-brainer, being a quality belt for less than $100, but at full price, even with military discount, it’s mostly a matter of preference between the Eagle belt and the other comparably priced belt that has loop Velcro on the inside from Tyr Tactical. Your mileage may vary, and Eagle does sales and military discounts a lot more readily than Tyr does. As a final value issue, the cost of the Eagle OGB does not include the inner belt, which increases the cost further.

The Eagle OGB is a belt that will work great for most users, is fairly priced, and comes from a reputable brand. It’s durable, fits a wide variety of missions, and can be had at a great value if you time your purchase correctly.

I own many BDS Tactical products, and they’ve all been of great quality, and made by a small shop in Oceanside, California. Previously, we’ve covered their cummerbund upgrade, and here we’re recommending their Modular Shooter’s Belt as a great budget choice for almost anyone. While they do offer configurations that are similar to other options on this list which feature aluminum cobra buckles and D-rings, it’s going to be the low-cost polymer buckle option that makes this our budget choice, since the low MSRP is going to put this belt in reach of people who might consider a $140 belt to be an excessive expense.

The BDS Modular Shooter’s Belt offers a unique advantage for those who are either unsure about whether or not they will use a gunfighter belt in their personal equipment, those on a budget, those who don’t shoot as much, or all three. In its lowest-priced configuration, the Modular Shooter’s Belt retails well south of $100, which is further lowered if you take advantage of military discounts. Of course, you can add the aluminum cobra buckles that make other options on this list cost more, but as mentioned above, that’s excessive for some users.

In spite of the low entry cost, BDS offers the belt in a number of colors, all made in the U.S., for a price that rivals that of lower-quality brands. If you want a gunfighter belt in an unusual color like Wolf Gray or Multicam Tropic, BDS has you covered, and while other brands might allow for special color orders, BDS offers these at no additional cost.

The low price also doesn’t come at the expense of durability either, since BDS uses good quality materials that comply with the Berry Amendment and NIR suppression requirements for military usage, and in my experience features durable, even stitching. This extends to the Velcro as well, which is not unevenly stitched and does not feature much overhang beyond the stitched edge, which is not common at this price point. As a final cost-effective measure, the belt includes the inner belt, making this option ready to go from the factory.

The cost-effectiveness of having a plastic buckle is offset by the obvious durability concerns of having a plastic buckle. As any salt dog who insists on still using an ALICE pack over the modern FILBE or MOLLE 2 will tell you, plastic eventually gets brittle, especially in extreme cold or dry conditions. Also, the plastic buckle lacks a D-ring since using a plastic buckle as an emergency rappel seat sounds like four different bad ideas at once.

Another issue is the fact that this belt is absolutely nothing fancy. If you’re looking for ultra-light, ultra-thin, ultra-Gucci belts made of space-age materials, this isn’t going to be the belt for you. It’s a gunfighter belt that works right every time and is priced accordingly. I don’t necessarily consider this to be a bad thing, but scaling one’s expectations accordingly is wise.

A final shortcoming of the BDS belt is that it’s made in small quantities in a small shop. While that might be excellent for things like quality control and color choices, it can also mean that popular colors are often out of stock, or that lead times can be high. Make sure that you’re not putting in something made-to-order and then going in Karen mode on the phone because it didn’t ship within three days as you expected.

The BDS Modular Shooter’s Belt is a cost-effective belt that scales to the user’s needs and provides an accessible entry into the world of gunfighter belts without locking it behind a paywall. The wide array of colors, buckle options, and sizes mean that the cost savings don’t limit your choices to basic colors or configurations.

The AWS SMU belt is my personal belt that I’ve used for the better part of a year as my primary magazine-carrying platform. It’s also where I occasionally put my IFAK and a tourniquet, as a sort of ready kit to have all my stuff on without needing my plate carrier. It stands out from the crowd by featuring laser-cut material rather than sewn MOLLE loops, which makes it lower-profile, but no less durable. After being recommended this belt by a friend, I’m now communicating that recommendation to you, because this is a seriously good belt, and AWS will even help you set your belt up if this is your first time.

The AWS SMU belt is one of the most durable options on this list, while at the same time being one of the lowest-profile and very lightweight. It achieves this by using laser-cut webbing made of a proprietary fabric, which not only cuts down on weight, but also improves pouch stability by being cut closer to the belt than MOLLE could be, while still remaining looser when the belt is spread out, and tightening when the belt is wrapped around your waist. At the core of the durability is the AWS proprietary TAC WEAVE webbing, which the laser-cut material is sewn onto, making the belt very resistant to twisting and sagging. Due to this construction, I’ve carried three rifle magazines, a dump pouch, a first aid kit, and a tourniquet with no issues with comfort or sagging.

AWS is also a very customer-friendly company, supporting belt sizes that are much larger or smaller than most other companies, meaning that for many women, this may be the only off-the-rack belt that fits properly with no customization. Additionally, AWS offers a belt-builder tool on their website, which allows you to pick the belt size and color, as well as allowing you to order the pouches that you’ll need, color-matched to the belt, making this a great option for those who want a one-stop-shop option.

All Science™, innovation, and quality aside, though, $140-ish as a baseline price for a standard-size belt in a preset number of colors is on the high side of pricing for traditional gunfighter belts. The only options that are more expensive on this list either offer complete customization (Ex Umbris) or use exotic materials (the Ferro Bison). Some may consider the laser-cut laminate on the AWS to be an exotic material, but your mileage may vary, especially considering your intended use for the belt. I wanted a belt that I could buy and then hopefully never replace, despite the fact that I use it for everything.

The preset colors I mentioned are definitely first-world problems, but compared to some other options on this list, five colors is paltry. You can have any color you want, as long as it’s something officially used by the U.S. military — so it’s multi-cam, coyote, black, or ranger green, although you can change the color of the laser cut material from color-matched to black, which opens up the added colorway of woodland camouflage. This is a niche concern, as I’ve found that coyote brown goes with everything, and most military users I know don’t usually tend to fret over the fact that they can’t get their gear in multicam black. However, for civilian shooters who want a more customizable experience, or for anyone who wants a less-common color, this might not be the best option, and the fact that other belts on this list come in myriad colors shows that it is in demand.

One of the issues that I’ve had personally with the AWS SMU belt has been that the large Austrialpin Cobra buckle digs into my stomach somewhat when bending over, taking a knee, or lying in the prone position. Another issue is that the paint on the buckle is very fragile, and has rubbed off over time due to contact with the ground while in the prone position, or with the receiver of my rifle when I let it hang. For military users, the idea of having bare aluminum exposed to light might seem tactically unsound, and over time you may have to re-paint the buckle or replace it with a new one.

The AWS is a seriously capable belt that, in spite of being one of the more expensive simple gunfighter belts on this list, costs no more than what you’d expect to pay for the quality that you’re getting. This could easily be a belt that lasts you for years.

There’s a certain demographic of a shooting enthusiast who was reading this list the entire time and was thinking “what a boomer, he didn’t even mention the Ferro Concepts Bison Belt.” In spite of the high price tag, it’s worth it, because this is a fantastically rigid belt that absolutely will not twist or sag, and which is amazingly lightweight and adjustable in spite of the rigid construction.

The Ferro Concepts Bison Belt completely abandons the cloth-based belt systems found on nearly every other belt on this list, and instead uses a layer of molded thermoplastic, to which the actual fabric of the belt is sewn into. This not only reduces the weight, increases rigidity, and cuts down on water retention when wet, but it also makes the belt surprisingly flexible in terms of sizing. One way in which it achieves this is by having a strap that makes adjustment and buckle removal for holster attachment very easy. Another added benefit is that due to the rigidity of the belt, wearing a stiff inner belt is unnecessary, meaning that the included inner belt is no more inflexible than your standard web belt.

Some other structural advantages that make the Bison Belt stand out from the crowd mostly pertain to visibility and form factor. For example, the molded thermoplastic in the core of the belt is exposed but is properly treated so as not to reflect infrared light under night vision. Another advantage is the fact that the cobra buckle used is much smaller than the standard cobra buckles on nearly every other belt on this list, which means that it will make bending over more comfortable and prevent the buckle from digging into your stomach. Finally, the inner belt is very flexible and can be adjusted for many different sizes, with extra slack being easy to take up.

The downsides of the Bison belt go a bit further than just the price, which although it’s considerably higher than other options on this list, isn’t excessive for the features that you’re getting. The price is also exactly what you see, with no military or law enforcement discounts available, which is likely due to the fact that most of Ferro’s customers are in the military anyway. However, the real issue with the Bison belt that I can see at this price is the sizing, being difficult to find and highly limited. To find the sizing chart, you have to go into the product manual, where you’ll find that the sizes range from 30 to 49 inches, which means that the Bison belt will fit most men within military height and weight, and some slightly larger, but leaves options for very slim people lacking. Coupled with the limited color options, the Bison belt is a belt that essentially tells you to take it or leave it.

The Ferro Concepts Bison belt leads the pack in lightweight durability due to its futuristic choice in materials and rock-solid construction. This is a belt for the discerning professional user, and those who need this kind of performance will be willing to overlook the steep price tag.

Many of the options on this list are limited to what the manufacturer puts out. Sure, some companies may sell a very limited number of products in a rare color, which then all get bought up by a 15-year-old scalper in Southern California who will happily sell them to you for double the price, but not many of these companies offer truly custom services.

A newcomer to the world of gunfighter belts, Ex Umbris is owned by a former Army Special Forces medic and is probably the only belt on this list that can be truly said to be developed by a Medal of Honor recipient. The company’s owner proudly told me that Master Sergeant Earl Plumlee was one of the primary product testers in the development of the Assault Belt. However, the company does not use this fact in their advertising, which fits the bill for a brand owned by a man from a unit that calls themselves “quiet professionals.”

For instance, several owners of Ex Umbris products informed me that beyond their color catalog and normal sizing chart, Ex Umbris will happily accommodate users who need larger- or smaller-than-average belt sizes at no extra cost, and can also accommodate rare or offbeat camo patterns, even lending me a belt in the Navy SEAL-specific AOR 1 camouflage pattern, aka NWU II, for testing. This means that if you’re a woman with a 23-inch waist who needs a belt in M81 woodland with a tan cobra buckle, Ex Umbris has you.

Ex Umbris is also a company that stands behind their product, guaranteeing every belt for life, which they claim is an offer that they’ve never had to make good on. This guarantee is believable since if I had to describe this belt in one word, it would be “robust,” with every aspect of the belt’s construction feeling incredibly sturdy. Other owners who’ve used options from popular brands like HSGI and Ronin Tactics simply said one thing about the quality of many other brands compared to Ex Umbris: “No comparison.”

Another aspect of Ex Umbris’ business model that comes with dealing with a smaller shop is the terrific customer service, being highly personal. I emailed them for comment and was immediately connected with the owner of the company, who answered all my questions regarding the brand and production process. In an industry where it’s often difficult to feel like you’re talking to a real person, this is an excellent touch and has to be highlighted.

Unfortunately, many people are going to look at the price tag, see the lack of futuristic materials, and consider the fact that the company that made it has been around for a little over a year and a half and think twice about purchasing. Other users might not care about the customization features, falling into the size ranges that are usually found on military-age males, and seeing all the extra options as superfluous. As a final limitation, the Ex Umbris Assault Belt is not the lightest or lowest-profile option, prioritizing durability over all other factors.

The Ex Umbris belt is probably the best option on this list for people who find other options too restrictive in terms of size or color, and who want something that fits them and their mission. Coupled with rock-solid production quality and a pedigree that can’t be beat, the Ex Umbris Assault belt is a discerning belt for the discerning user.