Is this a special belt made for Texas Rangers, or is it commercially available?

Or is it just for that show?

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ETA: New show on CW with Padelecki.

Pictures

Two belts.  
Attached File

On the new CW show, there is only one belt in rear.

You must not have grown up on a ranch...

One is to hold up his jeans, the other is holding up the chaps.

Pic added in op.

Welcome fellow enthusiast of firearms!

Then they're overlapped in the back.  

One belt holds pants.  One belt holds guns.  
My leather duty gear is the same, only the rangers tend to wear old western style gun belts instead of modern cop shit (as much as any leather gear can be "modern cop shit")

LOL I asked about that in the TV review thread.  I googled Texas Rangers and it looks like the vast majority wear two separate belts.  Some also have different buckles.

But I thought I saw what OP is referring too.  It looked like one belt with two buckles in front.

Double belt gun rigs are a trademark of the Texas Rangers and the sheriff's in various counties in Texas.  The belts are hand tooled and the buckles are made by master engravers.   Some rigs are made in the prison system for the rangers and other LE.    There are also Special Rangers and Special Texas Rangers.  There is a difference.

Some of the nicest rigs are made by men with a year waiting time with no sign on their shops.

Yep, and the rear looked like one wider belt, not two belts. I rewound and looked closely.

I don't think I've ever seen them wear two belts that looked EXACTLY the same like that. Usuall the pants belt is a bit smaller, or at least has a smaller buckle.

but I don't work for the CW props dept either.

I always thought the gun belt that nick nolte wore in extreme prejudice was sharp
I was told it was made bu old Elpaso saddlery

I think he's right, Google shows nothing like that belt.

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Pretty much every Ranger I have ever worked with wore a rig like that- as well as a lot of other LEOs in west Texas. I've asked about it before and I can't remember if it was $650 or $1000 (at least from my buddy that used to wear one)... of course, that was like 15 years ago. So who knows how much now.

The lower belt has absolutely nothing to do with the chaps.

It is a long tradition to have two matching belts made together and engraved.  One is the pants belt and the other is the gun belt.


The rig that was worn in Extreme Prejudice was copied from real life Texas Ranger Joaquin Jacksons rig who was a consultant on the movie.

Nick Nolte rode around with Ranger Jackson to pick up his mannerisms and he copied his dress down to the buttoned up shirt.   Nick Nolte was a master at his trade and he loved being around Joaquin Jackson.

In the CW series they have them wearing a double belt rig but are using keepers in the back.    It looks like the prop guys did a half assed job on it.  His double belt rig should be hand tooled, however,  the original Walker Texas Rangers belt wasn't hand tooled either in the first few episodes and he went on to just wearing a pants belt with holster with belt loops in the back.

Great photo. Explains a lot.

This is an actual double belt rig worn by a Special Ranger with the Texas Cattleman's Association.   Not many wearing an actual rig like this would be found wearing a keeper on their rig.

What does one of those rigs cost?

Just curious

Holy crap if true!

I need to get a gig like that because I am pretty good at leather crafting and if I already had templates for that belt and tooling, I could probably make a rig like that in a couple of 8 hour days.  The tooling in some of these pictures isn't even all that great.  It looks rushed.  And these holsters aren't even wet formed to the gun.  Tooling is easier than wet forming if you already have a template, IMO.  Two belts and holsters would pay for all the tools you'd need and enough leather and thread to make a bunch more.

Anybody else notice a glaring lack of black plastic?
Ole Gastin must've been shown the door.
Wonder if he took a pointed boot home with him.
Lodged.

I had an audition for the new Walker show.  It conflicted with a movie I was starring in.  I would love to be on that show. I hope the opportunity comes about again.

A hand tooled double belt matching  rig will run between $600 and $1500 depending...depending on the pattern you choose and the maker. Many makers dont like making cuff cases for some reason.

Some holster and belt makers aren't that great at hand tooling.

EL Paso Saddlrey has amazing tooling but I wouldn't wear their rig every day.  It's a BBQ rig IMO but they are pieces of artwork that would be something to pass down.. or be buried in.

If it's made in the prison system it's only for LEO so you pay much less .. materials and labor.

Buckles are almost always made by someone else.  They go from around $150 each to $2000 a pair for some serious crafstmanship

If you want really nice buckles and jewelery go to my friends at Lopez engraving.

When it comes to the super nice tooled double belts the wait list is very long so I dont give out those makers because people complain about the waiting time.

Also, tangent, as a Texas Peace Officer, you can get on a list to get custom Conchos made by inmates.

Would it be bad if I want a big ole silver rodeo buckle with a sweet set of turquoise boobies on it?

When I lived in Presidio, Texas in the early 80s this is what lawmen wore, 2 belts with matching buckles, and a 1911 cocked and locked.  Even the U.S. Border was like this.  Black river belt for the trousers and a black gun belt right below but no 1911.

My dad was a police officer in Dallas and wore a two belt rig, both belts leather.  Unlike the Texas Ranger rigs in pictures here, his gun belt was a wider/taller belt that rode over the top of and obscured his pants belt.  In retrospect it looked damned uncomfortable.  He wore a Colt Python as his service piece.

1911's are the traditional handguns of the Texas Rangers, and have been for a long time.

Theres a bunch who carry Glocks and Sig P226's

Wrong account tab...

As far As I know only departments can order the inmate produced items. Now if you know a TDC employee that's a different story. I used to visit my brother at the Ellis II unit in Huntsville and they had a display case of inmates leatherwork and they used to make some really top notch stuff. This was 20 years ago and I'm not sure what the process is now to get those items.

TDC Industries does have a website up
https://tci.tdcj.texas.gov/products/specialty/law/default.aspx

Joaquin Jackson is a piece of shit.  Fuck him.

Yep

Why? What did he do?

Anti gunner.....no black rifles or standard mags for you and me.

Yeah I Googled it after I asked the question. "Assault Rifles and high cap mags should only be for military and LE".....while he was on the NRA board. Dick.

A ranger friend of mine told me that they get lots of custom gear free.  The makers use the rangers as free marketing.  People ask them where they got their rig.

Guys like him are the reason we are where we are now.

Don't care.

Won't watch the new crap show.

The "star" is a left wing, Beto supporting, anti-gunner.

One more liberal making a living using what he would deny us having.

Screw him and his POS show.

Yep, if a Texas Ranger wasn't wearing a rig like that, with the white shirt and string tie and cowboy hat when he came into our office, I was always thinking, I need to see some ID.  

That’s cool...

Learned a lot of new stuff in this thread.

These days, yeah.  I think the Sigs became more common when DPS went to them years ago.  

But a Glock in a fancy silver and tooled leather rig is just...wrong.

He's too stupid to tie his pistol belt to his trouser belt

Just to add to my above posts.   On a day to day basis in areas like Dallas you may not see a Texas Ranger walking around with a double belt rig.  If you go out to Amarillo or down to El Paso you will find it more often.   If you go to Waco (Company E)  to the Texas Ranger museum you might indeed see a ranger wearing their rig giving lectures to visiting children and there are double belt rigs on display there.    They are the investigative arm for the Texas Department of Public Safety and have branched out into running the Ranger Recon Teams and more.

When they all come together in Austin to take photos in front of our Capitol (which is taller than the US Capitol)  ALL the rigs come out.  New rangers come from the DPS  and there is a long list waiting to get in the rangers and a selection process.   Many of them get on and have to wait months to get a rig made for them.    By law the number of Texas Rangers is regulated by state law.  Currently that number is under 175 if memory serves me.


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"The Texas Ranger Division is a major division within the Texas Department of Public Safety with lead criminal investigative responsibility for the following: major incident crime investigations, unsolved crime/serial crime investigations, public corruption and public integrity investigations, officer involved shooting investigations, and border security operations.

The Texas Ranger Division is comprised of 234 full time employees; including 166 commissioned Rangers and 68 support personnel; including administrative staff, Border Security Operations Center, Joint Operations and Intelligence Centers, and the Special Weapons and Tactics team.
The Texas Ranger Division created a Special Operations Group to be tasked with the oversight of the Special Weapons and Tactics team, Regional Special Response Teams (SRT's), Ranger Reconnaissance Team, Crisis Negotiations Unit, and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal. The Texas Rangers currently coordinate border security operations through six (6) Joint Operations and Intelligence Centers (JOICs) along the Texas-Mexico border and Coastal Bend area of the state. In response to legislation, the Texas Rangers created a Public Corruption Unit and an Unsolved Crimes Investigation Program.

In 2019, a total of 2235 investigations resulted in 993 felony arrests, 56 misdemeanor arrests. The Texas Rangers secured 6648 statements, including 562 confessions to various crimes. There were 537 convictions for various crimes investigated that resulted in 3 death sentences, 76 life sentences and a total of 8531 years in penitentiary time being assessed. Rangers conducted 9 hypnosis sessions on criminal investigations.""

Wearing a gun belt lower on the hip than the pants belt goes back to the old West. The belt rides lower for a reason.  Many belts were made and still are with no lining (not smooth leather) and the inner part of the belt is the suede so it holds it's place.  A gun belt and a duty rig for patrol are two different things.

@defendtexas

Here is a picture i have of Sie Bell, john herzing and another Ranger circa 1919 Attached File


Attached File

That's a typical "duty belt" type arrangement.  The "gun" belt was a separate belt, wider and thicker, carrying all the duty gear stuff.  The pants belt held up the pants and the duty belt might be clipped on with keepers.  Depending on the uniform or circumstances, the duty belt might be worn over a tunic, jacket, etc.  Like a military pistol belt or duty belt, etc.  If you look back older westy times, the pants were held up by suspenders so the gun belts were used alone, too.  A police duty belt could also have a set of clips to hook one side to the other under the buckle area, a lot easier to put on and off versus threading a belt tongue through the buckle with all that weight on it, etc. while still appearing to be a full buckle rig.

Yep, depending on your build, tne weight of the gear, it could be uncomfortable.