By John Crump
Alien Gear Gun Belt : Review
U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- One of the most overlooked aspect when carrying a firearm is your belt. Cheap belts from Walmart do not hold up with the added weight of a firearm. This added weight will cause your pants to sag.
This is why there is a need for belts specifically made to carry firearms.
Alien Gear has stepped up to the plate with their latest offering. They have produced the Alien Gear Gun Belts with a spring steel core. This prevents the belt from sagging like belts not built to carry firearms.
Most of these belts are non-core belts and can not deal with the extra weight. I also found the steel core is superior to other gun belts on the market that use plastic for their belt’s core.
These hold up better than a belt with no core but still sag.
Alien Gear Gun Belt
The spring steel core is wrapped in drum dyed English Bridle leather which is hand cut. This leather is soft yet strong. Alien Gear offers the belt in either black or brown. I received the black belt to review from Alien Gear and I couldn’t be happier with the look or feel.
The belt came in a black plastic Alien Gear bag. Inside the bag was the belt, NRA literature, and an Alien Gear sticker.
When I took the belt out I realized I ordered the wrong size. Alien Gear belts run a waist size of +4. For example, if your waist size is a 30 then you would order a size 34. When I asked to review the belt I gave Alien Gear my waist size and not my belt size. That was my fault for not reading the website sizing guide.
Alien Gear does have a 7-day perfect fit policy where you can exchange the belt for another size. I called the number located on the tag attached to the belt. A very helpful woman emailed me a form to fill out. On the form you put your name address and what size you would like. I sent the belt and form back on a Monday and received a new belt that Friday.
Alien Gear customer service did a great job (and no, customer service did not know I was a writer).
When I got the new belt I decided to show it to my wife since she is the fashionista in the family. She agreed with me that the belt looks amazing. It looks like a high priced belt and not just a belt designed to support the weight of a gun. The stitching is tight and the buckle is heavy duty yet still classy enough to wear if you are dressed up. Even when not carrying this will be my go to belt from now on.
To test out the belt I carried a Glock 19 concealed for one week and I open carried a full-size Remington R2 1911 for the second week. Neither of these guns are lightweight by any stretch of the imagination. With my old gun belt, that has a plastic core, either of these would make my pants sag. To my surprise, the Alien Gear belt did not sag my pants at all.
The belt was very comfortable. When wearing my old belt, due to the weight, I could always feel one side sagging. This caused me to feel uncomfortable (probably OCD) to the point where I would wear magazine holders on the other side to even out the sagging. With the Alien Gear belt, I could hardly tell that I was carrying a firearm.
I was very impressed with the Alien Gear belt. I had a second belt that was sent to me, and being a writer I am probably not the best person to test the belt out to its full potential, so I gifted it to a friend of mine, named Irish, that does armed security and had him use it as a duty belt. This is something that it is not designed for, but I wanted to see if it would hold up. He used it for a week before I asked him for his opinion.
Irish stated that the belt not only held up but exceeded his expectations. He said that he would have no problem using the belt as his duty belt. It held his gun, magazine holders, and handcuffs with virtually no sagging. He also liked the fact that he could change out belt buckles since he has one that has some sort of sentimental meaning to him. Overall, he was very impressed with the Alien Gear belt.
It is no secret I am a big fan of Alien Gear Holsters. I have reviewed their products in the past, and I have always been very impressed. This is no exception. This is not only the best gun belt I have ever used, this is the all around best belt I have ever used. I am planning on asking my wife for one in brown for my upcoming birthday.
The Alien Gear Belt can be found at www.aliengearholsters.com and at the time of this writing it retails for $59.88.
Alien Gear Belt’s Score:
- Quality 5/5
- Look 5/5
- Comfort 5/5
- Value 4.5/5
Check out ore belt images from Alien Gear’s Promo Video:
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on the history of the patriot movement and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss or at www.crumpy.com.
“In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and The Constitution.”
You may also want to fix your description sentence above, as a “writer” I mean. As you have written it, it states that you have interviewed the Constitution. Although you may have stood in front of the original document and talked to it, that would not constitute an interview.
I am still feeling pretty salty about the state of what is passing as “journalism” these days.
I don’t recommend Alien Gear belts. They use snaps instead of Chicago bolts. The snaps are heavy duty, but are easily defeated in a struggle. Place thumb inside belt and move toward buckle and snaps disengage. Never buy a belt with snaps. Also note that only one layer of leather goes around the buckle and connects with the snaps. One layer of leather is probably strong enough, but good belt makers loop both layers of leather around the buckle. I have not found any data on how strong an Alien Gear belt is. Its not a bad belt, so don’t… Read more »
The only problem I can see with any steel core belt is that even if you leave your gun and ammo and your knives in te car, you will still get alarms going off at every metal detector you pass through.
My belt outfit is cuffs, badge, two 13 rd. .45 cal. magazines and the Springfield XDs Mod. 2 in .45 cal. This is not exactly a lightweight outfit. My Alien Gear belt has been carrying this burden fo 6 months with no sag and no stretch. Its built like a Sherman tank and is the best belt I’ve had by far.I know whereof I speak, working night suit security in Chicago, Illinois, and having cursed my saggy/stretchy belts for over twenty years.
Mr. Crump
If I order one of these belts and it turns out to be as bad as there holster I will not read anymore of your reviews
I love the belts. I spent money on the brown belt. I decided not to wait to my birthday
Pete- dont know about John’s veracity, but the Alien Gear belt is simply a re-marketed BigFoot Gun Bel-. they partnered up. I am currently wearing it now and bought it from BigFoot here in Idaho. They are also on the net. I agree with you about the Alien Gear holsters, although hate is a strong word. For the price… there are worse holsters that the public at large use,s for sure. Just not my cuppa either…Use Sideguard, Dragonworks, and UTG holsters most of the time. Wpouldn”t trade this out and there are 2 thicknesses to the BigFoot gunbelt., 14 oz.… Read more »
Mr. Shill, I mean Crump, My cheap-o walmart belt held my pants and gun for a week without any sagging, too. Just needed to cinch it down snugly. A week long subjective “test” is far too insufficient to provide adequate information as to how a belt is going to hold up. You mention that your plastic cored belt was sagging. After how long exactly? A week? A month? Immediately? Two years? We don’t know because you offer none of that information. If you are going to call out a comparison then you need to compare apples to apples. You then… Read more »
My plastic core belt sagged right away. I am wearing my belt right now. Once again I don’t shill for anyone. The belt I am wearing right now from Alien Gear I paid for with my own money. The reason why the value is 4.5 because there are other belts that are a little cheaper, but the quality isn’t as good. I have never shilled for any company. If a product isn’t good it will not get a good review. Check out the Bushnell review I just did, or the ATN review. Those didn’t give glowing reviews. My integrity is… Read more »
A narrow belt was never designed to carry weight. If you are going to carry weight around your waist you need a REAL belt. That is the original purpose of the Sam Browne Belt although it is not practical everyday attire. A wide belt is much better.
Just a note that Relentless Tactical also has a very good conceal carry belt. I have ordered three of them, two black and one brown, and I am very happy with the way they hold up my concealed weapon without the pants sagging. May want to try their belt out too. Priced at $59.99, however I was able to get 10% off the first one and then during the Christmas season was able to get 30% off the other two