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Ever add DIY ELS holes to a non-Safariland belt?


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I'm thinking about converting to the ELS system, but already have a belt that I like. I don't like the look of the Safariland belt either, and as everyone knows, Rule #1 is always "Look cool."

Has anyone ever used a soldering iron to add the full grid of ELS holes to an existing belt? I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Just wanted to get some input from the folks here with far more experience than I have before I destroy a nice belt.

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HEY......why the heck would you even consider doing that???

You are talking about 'converting'.....that must mean you are using something different now......let's say TEKLOK's (asumption on my part). Why not....put the receptacles for the ELS hooks on the TEKLOK's?

Now....you have the ability to remove gear at will with out taking the belt off......AND....if needed, you can move stuff forward and back a little as needed.

I personally run this system as I 'converted' earlier this year and absolutely hated the fact that the receptacles were stationary. I did mount a little piece of velcro to each TEKLOK as well. Basically, I hate the ELS belt set up.

Tim

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I'm thinking about converting to the ELS system, but already have a belt that I like. I don't like the look of the Safariland belt either, and as everyone knows, Rule #1 is always "Look cool."

Has anyone ever used a soldering iron to add the full grid of ELS holes to an existing belt? I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Just wanted to get some input from the folks here with far more experience than I have before I destroy a nice belt.

Yes, did it to a Double Alpha belt with a soldering iron. Works great.

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Nope, just a standard competition belt. But I'd like to be able to move holsters/pouches/caddies around for each stage without removing and unthreading everything which means going to ELS. And this seems like the simplest and cheapest way to get ELS functionality with a standard belt. But I'm 100% open to other suggestions - I'm just admittedly not familiar with all the different options on the market today.

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Nope, just a standard competition belt. But I'd like to be able to move holsters/pouches/caddies around for each stage without removing and unthreading everything which means going to ELS. And this seems like the simplest and cheapest way to get ELS functionality with a standard belt. But I'm 100% open to other suggestions - I'm just admittedly not familiar with all the different options on the market today.

Ok, so you are not converting.....buying all new. That's different, cause doing TEKLOK and ELS will cost you about double.

post-2749-0-09230700-1470080449_thumb.jp

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HEY......why the heck would you even consider doing that???

You are talking about 'converting'.....that must mean you are using something different now......let's say TEKLOK's (asumption on my part). Why not....put the receptacles for the ELS hooks on the TEKLOK's?

Now....you have the ability to remove gear at will with out taking the belt off......AND....if needed, you can move stuff forward and back a little as needed.

I personally run this system as I 'converted' earlier this year and absolutely hated the fact that the receptacles were stationary. I did mount a little piece of velcro to each TEKLOK as well. Basically, I hate the ELS belt set up.

Tim

I did this but I had a lot of Tekloks.

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HEY......why the heck would you even consider doing that???

You are talking about 'converting'.....that must mean you are using something different now......let's say TEKLOK's (asumption on my part). Why not....put the receptacles for the ELS hooks on the TEKLOK's?

Now....you have the ability to remove gear at will with out taking the belt off......AND....if needed, you can move stuff forward and back a little as needed.

I personally run this system as I 'converted' earlier this year and absolutely hated the fact that the receptacles were stationary. I did mount a little piece of velcro to each TEKLOK as well. Basically, I hate the ELS belt set up.

Tim

I did this but I had a lot of Tekloks.

Same.....even had some of the original ones

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Hmm, yeah the Tekloks plus ELS could work. Just expensive. Certainly less expensive to risk ruining a belt and just poke holes though.

Currently all my holsters/pouches just slide on to the belt. Undoing it to change it up for a stage is a pain.

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I put ELS across the front of my belt, for holding shotshell holders. My rifle pouch is a Bladetech on a TechLok and pistol pouch is 2 magazine with normal belt loop. My holster I use the larger QLS.You can barely tell where you drilled the holes on the belt.

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  • 7 months later...
On 8/1/2016 at 0:36 PM, AustinWolv said:

Yes, did it to a Double Alpha belt with a soldering iron. Works great.

 

did you use the ELS belt as a template, or just use ELS clips as the template?  

 

did you put the ELS holes all the way around the belt, or just on portions of the belt?

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20 minutes ago, funkymonkey1111 said:

 

did you use the ELS belt as a template, or just use ELS clips as the template?  

 

did you put the ELS holes all the way around the belt, or just on portions of the belt?

I had the ELS belt so I used it as a template.  Just did the middle row though right down the center-width of the DAA, not the staggered high/low pattern that Safariland did.  

Thus, using the clips would work fine also.  

 

I went all the way around the belt so I could put as many clips as I wanted.

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Is the holster mounted to the ELS or does it require the QLS?  I plan to get a new holster for my M&P, either LAG Super Nova or Nerd.  

I've been running Blade Teks and plan to attach the ELS to them like Tim suggests.  I'm not committed to the belt position enough yet to drill holes.

Thanks

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On 3/12/2017 at 6:43 AM, Tigereye said:

Is the holster mounted to the ELS or does it require the QLS?  I plan to get a new holster for my M&P, either LAG Super Nova or Nerd.  

I've been running Blade Teks and plan to attach the ELS to them like Tim suggests.  I'm not committed to the belt position enough yet to drill holes.

Thanks

 

I mount my holsters to ELS forks and attach to a corresponding ELS receiver plate on the belt. This arrangement has proven adequately secure for several years of 3-gunning, and has the advantage of allowing me to use the same receiver plate for mounting other things when the handgun is not needed (notably an extra shotshell caddy). The only downside is that many holsters (including Safariland) will need some kind of adapter plate because their holes will not line up with those on an ELS fork.

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On 3/12/2017 at 8:43 AM, Tigereye said:

Is the holster mounted to the ELS or does it require the QLS?  I plan to get a new holster for my M&P, either LAG Super Nova or Nerd.  

I've been running Blade Teks and plan to attach the ELS to them like Tim suggests.  I'm not committed to the belt position enough yet to drill holes.

Thanks

THAT....is the best way to go

 

BTW....my pistol is still on a TECLOK or a weber tactical harness and G-Code adapter 

Edited by TRUBL
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I was thinking of using a leather punch and soldering gun or woodburner too on a Shooters connection belt. 

Does anyone know if Safariland makes QLS belt anymore? Safariland shows pictures of it, but no information on it on their website. I think a QLS belt would solve several issues for me.

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  • 2 months later...

I run a regular Bianchi nylon police style duty belt that has an actual fastex latch/buckle instead of the ELS belt because I have never trusted the just wrap around velcro belts.  I have a few ELS receivers on TeK-locs, but I find they stick out too far for my taste, so I use them when I want to mount something extra, or when I am just shooting using a regular leather belt.

 

Some helpful tips:

  • Mark your hole locations ahead of time, and measure them again.  I used a white paint pen.
  • Decide where you want your buckle/overlap FIRST, THEN start marking.  I chose my buckle location to be basically in line with the front edge of my right back pocket.
  • Make sure your iron tip is symmetrical, uniform and pointed like a pencil and not flared like a screwdriver. See this picture, you want the one labeled pointed, not the others.
  • Use the 2 vertical holes for ELS receivers, or all 4 if you are planning for something heavy like a holster.  Consider QLS or MLS for holsters.
  • Don't plan on using that soldering iron for anything else, and poke the same hole from both sides.  
  • Have a piece of cardboard like an amazon box handy to poke holes in to clean your iron between holes.  poke and twist...  Don't use a towel/sponge/anything wet.
  • Have a fan blowing on your face (not your project), preferably from your weak side.  You are outside, aren't you?
Edited by barrysuperhawk
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