You’re ready to carry the weight of duty, but is your battle belt ready, too? Whether you’re rushing into military service, going on a hunting trip, preparing for the end of society, or simply customizing your loadout for an epic range day, a battle belt is a fantastic way to store your gear for quick access. But how exactly should you set up your belt?

Your unique battle belt setup determines your success in the field. Having a messy or disorganized belt can leave you unprepared. You don’t want to be caught without an essential piece of gear in the field. What’s more, you don’t want a disorganized belt that makes it hard to access key pieces of gear at a moment’s notice — this defeats its purpose entirely.

At Pro Armory, we won’t leave you with your pants down. Here’s our complete guide to setting up your battle belt for success.

Understanding Battle Belts

In the ever-changing world of tactical scenarios, it’s a good idea to keep gear that’s easy to access and remains secure no matter what — in every maneuver. With the right gear in place, you can feel confident knowing your most necessary items are within arm’s reach.

Since before World War I, battle belts have been used to secure tactical items and make movement and combat easier. Since then, battle belts have evolved well beyond the simple leather belt with a pistol holster attached to the hip. Today, strong velcro and innovative clasping systems offer much better strength in holding weight on the hips. Most battle belts today also use military-inspired MOLLE or PALS systems to attach items. Others use AustriAlpin clasps and velcro.

Newer battle belts also feature a design that both feeds through your belt loops and secures to the outside of them. This adds extra security and carrying capacity while creating a “self-sealing” system. If one part of the belt fails (which it shouldnt unless subjected to stresses beyond its capabilities) the other parts should keep it on your hips — at least until you get back to the barracks.

A battle belt should be as rigorous as it is comfortable. A belt full of gear digging into your skin through your clothes can cause chafing, like trenchfoot for the belly and hips.

The Armored Republic Battle Belt is a great example of an ideal battle belt. It’s designed as a 3-piece modular system made of several different materials. The outer belt features two rows of PALS webbing for attaching MOLLE-compatible pouches and accessories. It also has ITW-Nexus buckles and several other features to secure the belt and gear firmly to your waist.

The 5.11 Maverick belt is also a great starter example. It’s made of breathable, sturdy nylon, is 1.75” in width, and has an inner-outer looping system to keep everything secure. It uses strong velcro fastenings and AustriAlpin brand buckling.

Essential Components of a Battle Belt

There are different loadouts for different situations, but here are items you can attach to your battle belt that will help prepare you for damn near anything.

Magazine Pouches

One of the most important things to carry on your battle belt is ammunition. But you don’t want a bunch of loose ammo that you have to then load into your magazines before firing. You want your mags already loaded and ready to deploy at a moment's notice.

How many extra mags you need to carry depends on the situation. In most cases where a battle belt is necessary, six extra mags is a minimum. Depending on the capacity of your mags, this may give you 60, 90, or 180 rounds, with one in the chamber. That can go quickly in a gunfight. However, the ideal configuration depends on your body type, how comfortable you are with all these mags on your belt, and your range of motion.

The Armored Republic 3-magazine pouch is our first stop in building our ultimate battle belt setup. The pouches come from Armored Republic in a variety of colors including camouflage. They come in single, double, or triple pouch setups allowing versatility and flexibility in how many you carry. If you’re carrying concealed and just want an extra mag as a reload, you can remove the other pouches and just carry one. If you want to prepare for range training, you can keep all three pouches on and load up.

Extra Pouches and Holders

Dump pouches, kangaroo pouches, joey pouches — whatever you call them, you need a place to store tiny stuff. Joey pouches are a catch-all for anything your hands don’t need at the moment. From lighters to small tools to empty mags, these pouches hold them all.

This "joey pouch" from Blue Force Gear can stack mags back-to-back with ease or carry your bolt cutters, wire strippers, and torch like a champ. Constructed from durable ripstop nylon material, it will easily survive your toughest day of duty. It holds approximately 3.5L of volume — that’s almost a US gallon of milk. Not only that, it folds up super compact to be unobtrusive when the pouch is empty.

The dump pouch from Armored Republic is also an excellent first-hand choice. At 6.5” by 6.3” it’s an easy size to stuff most smaller things into. It’s built with MALICE clips, bar-tacked at stress points, and comes in a variety of colors. It even has a velcro swath on the front so you can customize as desired. On the inside you’ll find an ergonomic design that allows you to divide components or tools as well as elastic loops for chemlights.

Firearm Holsters and Retention

While you might use a rifle as your primary weapon, many different scenarios could call for a sidearm as either a backup or another training weapon. You’ll want a good pistol holster on your battle belt for this reason. If you’re a civilian, and your state does not allow open carry, you can switch to a concealed carry position and carry a handgun on your belt as your primary firearm.

Securing your firearm is at the top of the pyramid of safety. You can’t just stuff your gun in a magazine pouch — it will easily fall out. The best solution is a Kydex holster specifically designed to fit your handgun. Luckily there are several holster styles that can serve on your battle belt.

All that said, advances in tactical gear have benefited modern shooters. Today, with holsters designed to fit a variety of different firearms, you can own multiple guns and fewer holsters.

For example, the Safariland GLS Pro-Fit series is a solid choice for citizens. It can fit an incredible 225 different pistol designs into its holster — all without being intrusive or invasive to your range of motion. With a patented grip locking and retention design and hardy, ergonomic construction, you can ensure your gun is secure while still allowing for an easy draw. It’s so streamlined, with different styles allowing you to carry IWB or OWB, you might forget your pistol holster was even there (but don’t do that).

Medical and First Aid

Keeping your blood and guts inside your body is the most important priority next to accomplishing your mission. Even a small wound left unchecked can cause significant repercussions sooner or later down the road. For this reason, every battle belt should have enough real estate to accommodate a moderate-to-small comprehensive individual first aid kit, or IFAK. Keep your IFAK on your dominant side, close to your flanks, or at least where your non-dominant side can access it with ease as well.

The Rotcho MOLLE Tactical IFAK is a foundation for self-care. Inside is everything you need to handle non-life threatening injuries. However, you will need to augment this kit with QuikClot, painkillers, antacids, tourniquets, trauma shears, some stainless steel splints, and sterile gloves.

Additional Gear

While the above items are most necessary for all loadouts, these items can also benefit you, depending on your goal for the day. Add these to your battle belt if you have space:

• A Knife:The Columbia River M21 Knife is a solid choice that can be used for anything that a knife was designed for. Its lightweight, comfortable, balanced performance makes this an easy choice to keep in your knife sheath on your battle belt.
• Carabiners:JACT tactical carabiners are an excellent choice for load-bearing accessories. The strong polymer design guarantees steel-like rigidity with the weight-saving graces of polymer materials. While not graded for mountaineering, they are absolutely more than enough to carry your extra gear, rope, or even a light carbine. They are graded for 190lbs of load-bearing and their cheap price makes them an easy grab to toss onto your battle belt.
• A Flashlight:The MF Tactical CSI flashlight is a basic must-have for anyone on-mission. You never know when you’ll enter a dark area. With 50+ meter luminous reach, water resistance, and a long battery life, this is the perfect item for darker missions. Five light modes allow you to disorient people, call for help, or shine a beam into dark alleys. Shove this into a pouch on your battle belt and you’ll never worry about needing light.

Customizing for Your Role

Here are some ideas for loadouts designed for certain roles or profiles.

The Trooper

You will want more ammunition and ordnance on your belt, so never forget your IFAK. In the role of trooper you want to stay stacked on ammo and have your guard up at all times. This means keeping your blades, ammo, and mission-critical tools all close to your front or sides where they’re easily reached. Your drop/kangaroo pouch can be attached to the back or empty sides of your belt to catch all the things you’ll be switching or dumping off. Carabiners may also be necessary depending on the type of technical gear you’re using (night vision optics, communication devices, etc.).

Law Enforcement

This loadout requires more bells and whistles. You’ll need to account for both a sidearm and nonlethal melee weapons like stun guns and mace. Keep these all within reach of your dominant hand. It might be best to put your sidearm at the appendix position. Extra magazines for your sidearm should be on the direct opposite side of the pistol holster (to save space and make it easy to reload). You’ll also want more gear in urban settings, like a professional-rated gas mask.

Range and Recreational Shooters

Range folks may enjoy a more relaxed environment and can add more magazines and drop pouches to their belts to maximize training and range time. For this loadout you’ll want to replicate a combat loadout, but likely with more ammunition. You can sport an extra set of mag pouches to stay prepared for the next round of fire. You can also consider extra pouches for canteens — it’s easy to lose track of time and hydration on the range.

The Medic or Support Specialist

For this build you will double up on your specialized tools. If you’re a medic (or at least worried about a medical emergency), you’ll need at least two IFAKs and maybe a basic field surgical kit to help bind trickier wounds until the person can be evacuated to a hospital. If you're in a mission-specific role such as EOD or electronics warfare/counter-electronics warfare you’ll want more stowage for bulkier equipment like scanners, radios, and analytic equipment and relevant tools. This doesn’t mean you can neglect a sidearm or extra mags though. Always bring a weapon to protect yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are some common questions about battle belt setups, providing clarity, and actionable advice.

What’s the difference between a tactical belt and a standard gun belt?

A battle belt is a refined version of the tactical load-bearing belt. It holds all you need in a combat or shooting-focused scenario. A gun belt is usually strictly a belt designed to accommodate a holster/two holsters and maybe an incorporated bandolier for individual ammunition rounds.

How often should I review and adjust my battle belt?

You should address your battle belt and pouches after every mission. Check for overall integrity, usability, and functionality. You should assess the compatibility of your current loadouts to every mission or as situations change.

Can I combine my battle belt with other pieces of gear like a plate carrier or chest rig?

A battle belt can be easily integrated with a bulletproof vest. All your gear should mesh seamlessly to help you accomplish your goals. If any of it seriously restricts your movement or adds too much weight or gear and detracts from function, you need to reevaluate your setup.

Battle belts are designed to work in conjunction with your plate carrier’s PALS system to allow range of motion and compliment your torso-carrying ability. Some plate carriers allow the innovative kangaroo pouch/drop pouch to attach to their fronts, providing more free belt space.

Build Your Battle Belt at Pro Armory

You can’t rely on one general or specialist battle belt setup to satisfy every mission. It’s best to have multiple loadouts accommodating all foreseeable combat or civil unrest situations. Even if you’re just training at the range, keep an alternate setup for those nightmare self-defense scenarios. You never know when you might need it.

Don’t get caught with your pants down. Grab a battle belt and proper accessories from Pro Armory and start building your ultimate tactical loadout. In addition to low-priced bulk ammo, we offer a range of tactical gear necessary for your battle belt, including IFAKs, magazine pouches, bulk ammo, and more. With quality products backed by a knowledgeable staff of veterans and shooting experts, we will confidently supply your battle belt accessories.

We also offer training to improve your firearm proficiency. Learn tips for better firearm handling and accuracy and improve your understanding of tactical scenarios from veterans and other shooting professionals — all online. Sign up for our newsletter to be notified when training officially launches.