I am planning on taking my first carbine course in September if I can get my equipment and funds all squared away.  As I live in Miami, it will still be oppressively hot so I would like to avoid going out there all decked out in equipment from head-to-toe.

Ideally, I am looking for a belt system which can accommodate four AR15 mags and two or three Glock 17 mags.  

My key emphasis is to be as light and "airy" as possible.  I have not yet purchased anything because I'm not exactly sure where to start.  To me, the 5.11 VTAC Brokos Belt looked like what I had in mind.  Now, I'm completely open to someone telling me that it is total garbage, but the idea / concept behind it is what I was looking for.  Although with this specific item, I'm not sure I would be able to reach all of my magazines as some would be positioned behind me unless I double-stack them.

Anyway, I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks,

-Hound

Pockets.

Unless you're using the gear for daily work then use pants with decent size pockets and your normal carry pouches for your pistol mags. Get a basic blade tech AR mag pouch that goes on your belt for one of your rifle mags and call it done.

Have you looked at a Wilderness Instructor belt and some Ready Tactical mag pouches?

I get asked a lot about what rig and components I run when Instructing, specifically Carbine (AR or AK) or Shotgun.  I thought I'd lay everything out, label it and go over it.

The rig is modular.  The only thing that stays the same from course to course is the belt (inner and outer), the Safariland holster platform and the Rolly Polly.  Everything else easily removes and attaches.  The holsters snap into a plate on the rig.......they're the easiest part of the entire system to switch out.

I usually run a vest with IIIA armor in it.  If I need more than 3 Carbine mags (1 in the weapon, 2 on the belt), I have a carrier that fastens to the front of my vest and carries an additional 4 magazines.

1a:  Jones Tactical outer belt, with Cobra buckle
1b:  Jones Tactical inner belt
2:  Maxpedition Rolly Polly, large.  I tried the medium, but found it sometimes difficult to get a mag in there while shootin' n' scootin'.  Also, as an Instructor, I'm always sticking stuff in there like PACT timers, courses of fire and other gear.
3:  Safariland 6004-25 holster platform using the QLS (Quick Locking System) plate.  This allows just about any Safariland holster to be mounted to this rig.  I've always hated "drop leg" holsters, but this one drops just far enough to get below vests and/or armor, but it's still mounted on the hip, not the leg.  Super stable and secure, yet very quick.
4a:  Safariland 6377 holster with QLS attachment, Beretta 92
4b:  Safariland 6377 holster with QLS attachment, SIG P229
4c:  Safariland 6377 holster with QLS attachment, Gov't model 1911
5:  Safariland kydex Teklok pouches, AR15
6:  Blade Tech Teklok pouches, AK
7:  Ready Tactical kydex mag pouches, Beretta 92
8:  Talon Tactical kydex mag pouches, 1911
9:  Ready Tactical kydex mag pouches, SIG P229
10:  California Competition works shotshell caddy
11:  Safariland SxS shotshell holder.  I usually put shotshells in the California CompWorks caddies and slugs in the SxS's.

You can strip my rig above down to the bare essentials for your needs:  belt, holster, and mag pouches for both systems. That's all you would need.

Thank you cmshoot - this is EXACTLY what I was looking for.  I am just going to copy it and be on my way!

Since you're in Miami, check out US Grunt Gear. I, as well as 5-6 of my friends have been using their warbelt set up since 2008ish. You may be able to swing by and check out stuff in person and they can walk you through various set ups.

Glad I could help.

I think 4 ar mags is overkill for a basic course.

1 in gun, 2 max on person.

Back pockets or one cargo pocket for one.

Or a kydex belt mag pouch.


That should be low drag enough for a basic course....plenty of reload time in a basic course, no need to carry kitchen sink

That's exactly what the rig I pictured above is set up for; 1 mag in the weapon and 2 on your belt.

where are these courses available

My courses are taught in Georgia.  Precision Applications, LLC

try some  ITW FastMag (for belt) on a Volund Atlast belt http://www.volundgearworks.com/belts/ , and a blowout kit be done with it.
at one point, I used a utility belt from Home Depot (super broke at the time) with with built-in MOLLE (forgot the brand)

I do not want to hi jack the thread but I do have a question for CMSHOOT.

A belt like that, is it designed to be worn inside of belt loops or do you just wrap it around yourself and tighten it down?

Outside the loops.

It has an inner and outer belt.  The inner belt goes through the belt loops and the outside of it is covered with the loop part of hook-and-loop (aka Velcro).  The outer belt has the inner surface covered with the hook part of hook-and-loop. This makes for a rock solid platform as they lock together.

1a is the outer belt and 1b is the inner belt.

Ohh Ok Thanks!  I did not see the inner belt when I first looked at the picture.

I just wear one of those or Crye clips on the mags.

I have had good luck with my normal belt (mid weight leather belt from a uniform shop), pistol in belt holster right side, empty maxpedition dump pouch left front (or behind left kidney), two pistol mag carriers left side, second maxpedition pouch with three mags behind.  

If you will be shooting in unusual positions where you may be partially inverted, mags may fall out of dump pouches.  Otherwise, my fat ass finds this setup much more comfortable than rifle mag pouches.  

In Florida, using a nylon belt is a good idea as you propose, as the leather can get stretchy if it gets too wet.

Edit: spelling, clarity

I'm putting together some kit for my first class. I'm going to put 2 double decker (rifle/pistol) tacos on a Raven moduloader frame. This will allow 2 rifle and 2 pistol mags to be worn on a regular belt.  I'll just wear my normal EDC belt which is an Ares gear Aegis enhanced.  I have a PIG UCR also, but I think that a chest rig even a light one, is overkill for a basic carbine course.

I went to Haley Strategic D3 Carbine Vehicle Darkness recently and ran my duty belt with one AR magazine on my belt for speed reloads. Only thing you need is handgun with a few speed reloads and at least one for an AR. I also took a chest rig but just kept it in the rear so I could have preloaded magazines and had extra mags in my pockets. After each drill I rotated one from the pockets to my carrier on my belt.

Class was amazing. I will probably do an AAR of it soon. Need more time for it all to digest and get to the range a few more times to run drills on my own before I do.

Gunsite 223 graduate here (week long, intenstive) - believe it or not you don't need "tacticool" stuff to shoot well.  Tactical pants, shirts, boots and vests won't make you more accurate.

We had a number of people with too much equipment who did not finish the course.  Their knees/backs gave out first.

Here's what I took:
- One good leather or web belt
- Glock 19 with Blade Tech Revolution OWB holster
- A pistol mag pouch (single mag is probably fine for a carbine course)
- Two "Mako" plastic belt AR15 mag pouches - wore on left side belt (from Amazon)
- One dump pouch, which I could use to carry 2 extra mags if needed or empties
- Single point sling (Magpul MS3 is arguably the standard)
- Three pistol mags and at least 6-8 of your favorite 30 round AR mags (to save time during the day - load them ahead of time) though you don't carry all these

I wore a pair of jeans, warm shirt, long johns (if needed), baseball hat and occasionally a fleece jacket.

The one place you do want to save weight is on your carbine.  We had guys lugging 12 lb boat anchors that ended up not finishing the course.  I carried a 6lb Colt Pencil Barrel with a Aimpoint microdot (T-1) and it saved my butt on many of the longer days.  Popping it up and down and throwing yourself on the ground to various positions is much harder than you think when it goes on for 8-9 hours/day for an entire week.
- Colt 6720 Pencil Barrel
- Aimpoint T-1 Microdot (or H-1, T-2, H-2) - red dot - worth the money
- Added a Midwest rifle length keymod rail to mine, and single point sling adapter
- A good quality hand held flashlight or weapon light if you have a night shoot (you should learn to use both)

All up weight for my carbine (less the removable light) was 6 lbs 1 oz.

Take the rest of the money you were going to put into "tacticool" vests, attachments and clothing and invest in a good Aimpoint red dot and practice ammo instead.

Put any more than two rifle mags on a belt and you look like a retard. Also, any shooting course in which you need access to more than two mugs, plus whats in the gun, is teaching you the wrong things.

Realistically, you should be fine with one rifle, two pistol mags on the belt, a dump pouch, and a holster. YOU DONT NEED ANYTHING ELSE. Use pockets, use the dump pouch, or, god forbid, use your range bag to store your extra crap.

This is what I have. You can make it yourself easily as well. This is an old picture - I made some changes to it and replaced the Condor belt with High Speed Gear.

My recommendation for you would be to make sure you have some sort of individual first aid kit on you at all times. Also for the light weight gear I would recommend using high speed gear taco pouches. They work great with both AR and AK mags.

I concur 100% with this.

You should not need more than two mags (each) for primary and secondary arms.

A good belt, good holster, and mag carriers are all you need.

The only thing I would recommend adding to the above (since this class will be in South Florida) is a hydration carrier. Having one is
not critical, but, it is a 'nice to have' item

The above is what I run with for most courses.

Remember, 'mission drives the gear." So, if I am attending something a little more advanced, requiring more magazines to be carried (as specified by the instructor...like my last EAG class)
I'll throw on a micro rig.

If I am attending something really serious (shoot-house, etc) then I'll ditch the belt and micro rig and go with the "Hyper Alloy Combat Chassis" aka plate carrier w/ plates,
and a lot of pouches, etc.

I just ran a carbine 1 class with Ares gear belt, hsgi drop leg platform. And three molle fast mag pouches. Didn't run a pistol, but could easily been done

I agree with the guys above that sometimes more is less, especially for a beginner carbine course. I'm a low speed guy I guess, I have taken several carbine courses with just a holster for my pistol, 1 pistol mag carrier(kydex)at about 11 oclock, 1 rifle mag carrier(a cheapie MAKO I believe) at roughly 8 oclock position, and a spare rifle mag in my back pocket if needed.

I tried a warbelt out first and sunk a bunch of money into it, but I realized that it wasn't as comfortable and when doing groundwork during courses it really gets in the way.  I'm not mil/leo so I don't need to wear the full belt or a plate carrier, so I train in what I'm most likely to have if something ever goes down.