Recently my wife gave me an HSGI Sure-Grip Padded Belt with both the duty belt and the Cobra Belt (It currently has the Duty Belt strung through it), a couple Taco Rifle mag pouches and 3 pistol taco mag pouches.

I'm not a soldier or law enforcement and a Battle Belt is something completely new and foreign to me.  I enjoy practical rifle for recreation at my local club and will be taking a carbine class soon.  So I was posting here to see if I could get some help, instructions, pointers, advice, etc.  Any help would be appreciated.

This sounds like a silly question but, where do you wear it?  Do you wear it over your hips exactly where a trouser belt would go?  Or do you wear it higher than your hips, maybe over your waist or centered on or just below your naval?  Where exactly do you position it?  If you wear it over your hips where your trouser belt would go...do you wear a trouser belt on your pants underneath it?  Doesn't the trouser belt interfere with the battle belt?

Does the weight of the Battle Belt start to feel like its pulling your pants down?  How about when you run?  Go prone or move around on the ground?

Do you prefer the "Duty Belt" or the "Cobra Belt"?  If you prefer the Cobra belt, doesn't the belt buckle scratch your rifle up really badly? (I realize that most folks probably won't care if it does, but once again, I'm not a soldier).

I was planning on mounting my RCS Glock 17 holster at 3 o'clock.  If you mount a holster on the belt, when you 'tug' your pistol free from the holster does the entire belt move or jump and make it difficult to draw your pistol?  Same question goes for rifle mags, if you "tug" a rifle mag free of the pouch does it end up pulling the entire belt upwards on you?

For something like a practical rifle or carbine class, what would you carry on yours and where?  (Of course, I realize the answer to that is going to vary and be personal....and also that the answer to that is going to be very different for someone in the service versus someone doing practical rifle stuff or a carbine class.  I'm looking for some models, advice, and things to try.

Any further help, tips, or advice is certainly greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

You wear it like a regular cop's belt. That said... if you are likely to use it in a 'grab and go' situation (i.e. "bump in the night"), where you won't be able to adjust it because you are in a hurry, you may wish to have suspenders on it. I googled "tactical suspenders" and found some 'cop type' suspenders for my duty belt (I'm a security guard, and pretty fat, so I needed the help).

As for the practical shooting course: that is an EXCELLENT place to find out what works and what doesn't.

^ he probably dones't know where cops' belts ride either FWIW
HSGI and cobra buckle for me.
The buckle does rub but if you're actually going prone and rolling in the dirt like you said, the rifle will get dinged up and dirty as it. Gotta pay to play sorta deal
For me, a civie, it's two pistol mags, two rifle, dump pouch, bleeder, knife, pistol, leatherman, flashlight
Wear it on your hips. The shark skin interior of the Suregrip actually "grips" what you're wearing (how about that, truth in advertising) and your belt stays put

^^ I agree with brad on basic setup. Except I run my spare light and multitool on my chest rig. Cobra buckle will scratch your gun. I use the Emdom-MM CM belt. I wear mine on my waist, some wear it higher. Your layout will depend on you and your body mechanics, and needs. Browse through some pic threads and look at various layouts. I've moved my kit around several times, and I'm sure to do it more before its said and done. I will advise to keep everything off the center back area as much as possible. In case you end up on your back or are in and out of vehicles. My blow out bag is a bit farther back than I find ideal but its workable. I don't have any issue with weight pulling my belt down or it riding up when running, rolling, jumping or drawing mags and/or pistol. Here's my belt...
http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/a584/GudOlBoy1/20140121_144912_zpsdbdc7c28.jpg

I would post a pic of my belt (Brokos ) but it looks identical to the theirs minus the knife.

I wear it right over my pants belt.  

Who makes that holster? I have an RTI mount on my belt and want a holster like that for when I put a light on my pistol. I wish G-code made a light capable OSH holster, I love mine. I know they have the SOC range but I really don't like the looks and don't want thumb break retention. Yours is perfect for what I'm looking for.

custom made by warthog gear holsters in TX. It was almost impossible to find a light compatible holster for the P-07 9mm with an RTI attachment. around $90

This is my testbed belt.  I'm using it to find out what works for me, what doesn't, and for a few other things I'm checking out (such as the pattern, I have several items of Kryptek patterns that I'm testing in my area right now, and this is one of them).



I went with the Beez Combat belt as a first, testing stuff out belt because I'm slimming down, quite dramatically, and expect to continue to do so over the course of the year, and it has a lot of adjustment room in its length.



I'm pretty satisfied with the placement of the holster and mag pouches, although I'm expecting to go to a G-Code holster (for a Glock, they don't make one for the FNP-45 at this time) on an RTI wheel, as that puts the gun a bit further out from the body, which is a plus if I also have on a plate carrier.



I'm currently shopping around and looking at various IFAK/Blowout pouches, and roll up dump pouches, and those are the only other things that are, for certain, going to be added.  I may add a knife, but I'm not sure at this time.

Thanks everyone for the help, advice, ideas, and suggestions.  That helps immensely.  And thanks especially for posting those pictures of your own rigs.  Seeing the way you guys set yours up helps, and the advice (like not to have anything in the center of my back) helps alot too.

I've never worn a cop belt either, so I'm not sure how they do it either.  But thanks to the posts here I at least have a good idea of where it should be worn (over my hips, over my trouser belt instead of above it).

Now that I know "where" it should fall I can evaluate whether it fits properly (hips are wider than my 'waist' so that makes a big difference in fit).  So, when worn over my hips, I've got a good 6 inches between the padded portions of the belt in front so I think I'm going to need a larger size or I'm missing out on alot of MOLLE real-estate.

I noticed in some of your pictures, you guys had Kydex holsters attached right to the MOLLE.  I have an RCS holster for my glock and I don't believe RCS sells an adapter to attach to MOLLE.  How did you guys attach them?  If I can't figure out how to get the RCS attached, maybe I'll instead switch to a G-Code.

Boom.



That's what I used to attach my RCS holster, a set of the mini-PUPs.  Works pretty darn well, actually.  I'm also currently experimenting with a knife attached via a mini-PUP, but it's a bit bigger a knife than I probably want on there.



 

Am I the only one that stuffs my rifle mags in the pouch with bullets facing forward like y'all's pistol mags?

I haven't watched the latest magpul dynamics DVD is I'm clueless! Joking guys

But seriously, why? Besides personal preference, I want to hear your mindset/ experience to make that decision.

OP I use Blade Tech Molle Lok to attach my holster and knife. Zip ties will do the same for less money.

I run my rifle mags rounds facing rear because I use the "beer can grip" when indexing them. Pistol mags are rounds forward because I use my index finger to index them. In my chest rig my rifle mag rounds face my strong arm (right) because it's hard to beer can em because of the deeper pouches. It's personal preference.  It's just how I roll, YMMV.

Hey, makes sense to me. I may try it to see how I like it. Now that you explained it like that, wonder if I could beer can grip it, and while moving towards rifle, rotate it in palm to a thumbless grip, leaving thumb to index towards the outside of the mag well. Or maybe I'm thinking to deep.

Thanks for the tips on attaching the RCS to the MOLLE webbing.  That's great!  I'll check out the PUP.  I didn't want to use 550 cord because I wanted something I could move around and take on and off a little easier.  If you hadn't recommended the PUP I was thinking about seeing if I could somehow get one of the RCS soft belt loops to work.  The PUP is probably a much better solution.  Thank you.



I pretty much "have" to go bullets to the rear with a beer-can grip.  If I could, I'd probably prefer to run them bullets forward like my pistol mags so that everything is consistent.  However, I have medium-to-small hands and I'm a small framed guy and I tend to have problems indexing a rifle mag like I would a pistol mag.  My hands just aren't big enough to hold the mag solid.  As I rotate it up into the well I tend to fumble because its just not gripped well.  On the other hand, with a beer can grip I have no problems at all.  It seems very natural to me once the mag seats to continue sliding my hand up over the mag well to send the bolt home.

I also find if I run rounds forward the mag ends up seated in my palm and I grip the base. This causes the mag to become "floppy" so to speak.  I have less control of it making it easier to botch the reload. Like Wolf said with the beer can grip around the body of the mag I have more control over it. After I drive it into the gun I just reach up and push the bolt catch with my thumb.