What Sling, gun belt, and mag holders do you suggest for 3-gun?

[silverphoenix]

We finally got our 3-gun team rolling at Texas A&M University and admittedly, 90% of our guys are gear-poor and don't have much to start out with.

What Slings, gun belts, and mag holders would you recommend to cash strapped college students? My goal is to introduce students to the sport of 3-gun and to lower the cost of what would otherwise be a monetarily exclusive sport. So we would most likely want something good in quality, but not expensive. Preferably something we could get a group discount on or even buy a few sets of to share.

[poortrader]

I use a CR speed belt. Unfortunately, most double belts will get costly after you start adding everything. I think that if everyone at least had a holster, you could probably share almost everything else while you're slowly buying things. I use CR mag pouches and Blackhawks pouches. Slings are not universal so it's more of personal preference.

Maybe you could talk to your local gun stores and see if they will sponsor your team.

Good Luck.

[Shokr21]

As far as pistol pouches go, there's nothing wrong with uncle mikes or kytex (brand) pouches. not real flashy, but cheap and they'll do the job.

Bladetech holsters with tek-lok would make it easy for different shooters to use the same pistol/holster.

Or you could buy a couple belts, set them up completely for what you intend to do and buy extra inner belts and be able to easily swap between team members. Maybe 1 belt per 3-4 shooters.

But the requisite gear is not the expensive part of the sport. If you can afford to shoot ammo in practice and in matches you can afford to buy your own setup.

[lsr1238]

What do you guys already have and how many shooters are you trying to accomodate? Does everyone have their own pistol? Rifle? Shotgun? Rifle and shotgun can easily be shared. Pistol might be more of a personal preference.

I've watched a few groups share equipment before and here's my personal opinion.

The way I see it is you have 2 options for sharing gear.

1. Easiest is if everyone shares same pistol so you can just share the entire outer belt set-up. This way you can have the belt set-up for the stage and don't worry about changing mag pouches, shell carriers between shooters.

2. If everyone wants to use a different pistol, you can either share belts and change out the holster or switch pouches as necessary.

Pistol holster: one of the more popular is the Blade-Tech DOH, about $70 new. There's a Ready Tac for 3 gun $75, but the Blade-Tech you can have with the Tek-Lok for easier off/on. Safariland ALS if you want more retention. You can go with a used quality kydex, lots of manufacturers. Just make sure it'll retain. Personally use a Read Tac DOH, started with a cheapo Blade-Tech injection molded (don't recommend).

Pistol mag pouches: wouldn't spend too much money on this. Get single pistol mag pouches, kydex, doesn't have to be a race mag pouch like a Double Alpha. Prefer the singles than doubles for more options in belt set-up. I still use the sigle mag pouches I had made from a guy from GlockTalk, used them for 5+ years.

Rifle mag pouch: Ready Tac AR15 mag pouches $28 or the Blade Tech with Tek-Lok $38. Depends if you're going to be swapping the pouches a lot or the whole belt. Only probably need 1, 2 at most, you can use a mag coupler, Brownells $25 or Pmag mag-link coupler $17. I use the Blade-Tech injection molded for $17, can't get them for that price anymore, placed them on a DOH Tek-Lok.

AR mags: I have Pmags, lots, a couple in a mag-link, Brownell mags in a coupler, some C-products steel 20rd, and C-products steel 40rd (good value at $17)

Sling: I'd go 2 point, all really personal preferance. A lot of times a sling isn't required, wouldn't be a priority for me, use the 2 point you already have. The two I've seen the most are the VTAC padded $40 and Blue Force Gear VCAS padded $55, not padded $45. I use a VTAC padded myself if a sling is required.

Shell carriers: this will probably be one of the larger expenses. Depends if everyone who shares agrees to use the same method of shotgun loading (strong hand load 2 vs weak hand carriers). Shotgun loading will probably determine your belt set-up, I'd think about this more.

What I would recommend is to come up with a list of what you need and make a WTB post in the Classifieds. You can find good gear, cheaper than buying new. You should also do what poortrader said and see if your local gunstores or sporting good store to sponsor your team.

Lots of information on this forum, I'd spend some time reading what others use. Instead of waiting till you gather everything, I'd start shooting and figure out what works for you guys. Remember ammo is the biggest expense. And make sure your team is good about reloading mags and shell carriers for the shooter on deck and in the hole. Don't want to keep other squads waiting.

[PistoleroJesse]

This really kind depends on how competitive the team wants to be. If every member wants to be competitive they are going to need their own setups for dry fire. If the only practice will be on the range and every one is willing, I'd go with Safariland ELS and have a limited number of mag pouches/shell holders and just swap them around.

[lsr1238]

This really kind depends on how competitive the team wants to be. If every member wants to be competitive they are going to need their own setups for dry fire. If the only practice will be on the range and every one is willing, I'd go with Safariland ELS and have a limited number of mag pouches/shell holders and just swap them around.

If I was starting out right now, I'd probably go with the Safariland ELS system (belt, pouches, holster, etc.) but since you said for cash strapped college students, I didn't mention it. If you guys meet up to dry fire, I think you can still share and be competitive. Always best to have your own so you can figure out what's best for you but I remember the days of being a broke college student.

[EkuJustice]

For quick disconnect, Bladetech makes one similar to the ELS but does not require the ELS belt.

[MikeRush]

As a former poor college student and a currently underemployed poor college graduate repaying loans there are plenty of ways you can get the costs down.

There is a great thread on here called Kitchen Kydex. It has dimensions for Glock magazine pouches and single stack pouches. The pouches end up costing 2 or 3 dollars per. I like to get the .093 kydex for the pouches. A DIY Kydex holster made out of .125 kydex is about 8 dollars. You do need an oven, some leather gloves, and something to cut with. A little creativity and time spent working out the details will yield perfectly serviceable gear. I am working on DIY shell caddies too but I have to figure out the retention still- but you get the idea.

One thing that I don't think you can duplicate at home is a good double belt. I use the Double Alpha one. That, and DIY kydex, should get you far. Also you can do slings reasonably cheap if you find some plans. I did some 3 points that work well for about 6 dollars each, but I don't use a sling for 3 gun now.

It may be worthwhile (haven't tried it myself, but local guys do it) to run a second belt up higher for shotgun shells, above the pistol/rifle mag belt. Some guys here use a cheap web belt and then you could switch a limited number of caddies easily.

[silverphoenix]

I really appreciate all the info. So far as what we Do have, it's not much. We have 16 members so far who have signed up and a bunch that are interested, but haven't signed up yet. Our facebook page have 176 people following it, so I have hopes that after we have more to offer members, more people will sign up.

We have 9 Pmags, one competition shotgun (can't remember the model), we're trying to get some glock 34's, and we have a sponsor who is going to donate competition grade AR-15 uppers.

I think we could maybe get 3 belts rigged up that everyone can use. Two of the guys on the team including myself have most of their own gear, but I personally don't have a belt or rifle mag carriers, just pistol mag carriers.

I also shoot a saiga 12, so I'd probably need a couple specialized mag carriers for those giant mags.

We are getting a discount on ammunition, so that will keep ammo costs down.

So far as what we want to standardize for the whole team, I've been talking to the guys we have and it looks like we are mostly in consensus on:

-9MM pistol, 5.56/.223 rifle (AR), 12 gauge So we can lend/borrow ammo

-3 2-piece belts rigged up with 2 rifle pouches, 4 pistol pouches, 3 3x3 shell caddies, 1 dump pouch

-3 padded VCAS or VTAC slings

If we can get 3 good setups together, I think we should be able to run stages smoothly--the only problem of course is $$$. Luckily after we get those, our only costs will be ammo and competition fees. My goal is to make it so all members will need to buy on their own is ammo and pay match fees--I think that will make the sport a whole lot more accessible than if they needed to buy 3 good guns, all the gear, plus ammo and match fees

Edited October 3, 2012 by silverphoenix

[Shokr21]

I'm not very familiar with what is required of a sling for 3 gun, but you have chosen one of the more expensive slings available on the market. The vtac is a good sling, have one myself, it was on my m4 overseas and I cannot think of a better solution if you are required to carry a rifle all day.

Having said that forfeiting just one vtac sling gets you ~$10 shy of another belt. There's nothing wrong with a used magpul sling for significantly less money or even cheaper a surplus web sling.

I'd take a good look at kytex pistol and rifle pouches. They are cheap (price not quality), are easy on and off, and provide great mag retention. Plus the owner is a Texan, so you might be able to work some sponsorship deal with him, not to mention he's a great guy to do business with.

I'd look to see if your college has any grants for startup clubs. My brother helped start the trap and skeet club at University of Iowa, and after contacting several staff members and alumni they were setup with enough money to buy ammo for the 25 man club for their first year, a shell reloader and under armour shooting jerseys.

Beg borrow and make all the connections you possibly can. Good Luck!