For all you women who shoot: What gun belt do you use?

[CortJestir]

For all you women who shoot out there or for guys with women who shoot in their lives, what gun belts do the ladies use?

My wife will finally be taking a defensive handgun course that requires drawing from the holster and she'd like a decent belt to support her carry gun.

She's looked at The Belt Man, but his belts are geared more towards the male shooter (as most firearms gear is, unfortunately).

Anyway, your recommendations, opinions and links appreciated. Thanks.

Mods: I realize this should be posted in Gear and Accessories, but this forum gets a little more traffic and since it's addressed to women, whose numbers are smaller on TFL than male shooters already, I though this would be the best place for exposure. Feel free to move if you feel so inclined.

 

[sakeneko]

I got some wonderful leather belts made by a San Francisco Bay area leathermaker a number of years ago. Don't believe she's online; I got them at a craft show. They're about 3/4" wide, double construction, supple but also resilient and tough. They support my Simply Rugged Silver Dollar Pancake holster and S&W Model 60-10 revolver quite nicely.

The holster is superb -- well equipped for IWB and OWB carry, and also well equipped for attachment to an above-waistline belly band or even a good support bra. I've worn it and carried all of these ways in the last few weeks: depending on how I'm dressed, different carry methods seem to work best. I had the holster about 10 days after I ordered it, as well, but the web site warns that it might be as much as a month. The owner will tell you when you order it, though, and is also quite helpful for general gun advice.

He makes belts. I'm considering ordering a couple from him to add to the collection. If she doesn't have one, and you don't mind shelling out between $100.00 and $150.00 total, she might want to consider getting a custom-built belt and holster combination from Simply Rugged. Otherwise, though, any belt of sufficient thickness (3/4" or more) and strength should work fine.

 

[greyson97]

i would like to go on the record, I have never shot a woman, and I would not have a preference of a gun to use while doing so. It would probabbly depend on the distance of the woman to me, and wether she is airborne.

 

[CortJestir]

^^ Ha ha. Funny, funny. Edited title and post. <sigh>

Thanks sakeneko. Appreciate the info.

 

[patriotthad]

I don't think that the belt ( while very important) is the main ingredient here. The problem your wife will encounter will be the gun's butt pressing against here rib cage due to the fact the God created ladies different in the hips than us men. She will need something to offset the top of the holster. Wilson Combat offers such an item, as does Blackhawk for their serpa holsters.

 

[pax]

CortJestir,

For curvy women especially, I HIGHLY recommend a "contour cut" belt, which conforms to the curve of the hip much more comfortably than a standard belt. When laid out flat on a table, a standard belt makes a straight line, whereas a contour cut belt makes a gentle "U" shape (as does an old, stretched out standard belt). The U shape allows the belt to flare out slightly at the bottom edge when it is worn, avoiding most of the discomfort problems women typically experience with belts.

My current favorite belt came from Ted Blocker Holsters. I've had it for around 8 months now and have worn it every day -- and it still looks brand new. Very nice work.

The other belt I can wholeheartedly recommend is from Galco Gunleather. Galco does something really, really nice for women's belts: they offer a front taper. This means that the front part of the belt is narrower than a typical 1 1/2 inch gun belt, so it looks a lot more like a dress belt.

The Galco belts have a hard, shiny finish while the finish on my Blocker belt is somewhat softer and less shiny.

patriotthad has a good point that the holster will matter too, but he is incorrect to say that this means the shape of the belt does not matter. Both matter!

As for "offset" holsters, my experience has been that a dropped and offset holster works very, very well -- on the range. But an offset design tends to be quite difficult to conceal, so for concealment holsters you need other solutions. See www.corneredcat.com/Holster/straighttalk.aspx for the full lecture on that, including all reasonably concealable options.

pax

 

[CortJestir]

Perfect, pax, exactly what my wife is looking for. I'm sending her to those links as we speak (and also to your website - thanks for that, too ). The Ted Blocker Contour looks like a good option.