the best belt and soldiers’ angels

I might actually be getting good at this… Since yesterday, thanks to some more kind generosity, the donation amount for the Soldiers Angels Fundraiser and Giveaway was pushed up to $405, as the ticker to the left shows. My personal goal was to get this shindig to four digits, and I am starting to think that might actually be possible.

So, to encourage you wonderful folks to open your wallets a little wider, I come to you today with a bit more encouragement. Yesterday brought you a gorgeous holster, so it only seems fitting that today we add a belt to the mix – in fact, you might even call it The Best Belt… y’know, because its seller does:

A great holster may not operate properly without the right belt. This is the right belt, my friends.

I’ve worn a lot of belts over the years, and experimented with different types of belts to wear a holster on. I’ve worn heavy, single-layer leather, leather with a Kydex core, straight double-layered leather, and steer hide to name a few. But, this is by far the best belt I’ve ever worn, with or without a gun.

This is a heavy-duty, double layer top-grain leather belt with a nylon webbing reinforcement core glued and then stitched into it. The buckle is affixed with heavy-duty Chicago screws.

The webbing core keeps it from stretching as much as a straight leather belt and keeps it from rolling over, it wears far more comfortably than Kydex, and it has a 600-pound tensile strength! That ought to be good enough for even the most extreme Thanksgiving dinners!

This 1.5-inch wide belt fits satisfyingly snug through the 1.5-inch slots in my pancake holsters, and fits well in the steel clips on my tuckable IWB holsters. It’s thick, but not monumental.

There are seven holes where the buckle fastens, and the nylon core runs clear from the tip of the belt to the skived fold over on the back side of the buckle. Although the belt should typically be worn on the middle hole, the one I’m wearing in the pictures is sized for a compromise between wearing it alone, or with my .45 and extra magazines in it. The hardware is all nickle plated, but these are available with upgraded screws and buckles made from stainless steel.

Although I don’t make these myself, they are hand-crafted by another American artisan craftsman here in the U.S. I’ve got such extreme confidence in his workmanship that I will extend my Lifetime Warranty and Satisfaction Guarantee to them. The fact of the matter is, I could make belts myself, but I can’t make them any better than he does.

Specs:
*Rugged and attractive, top-grain leather on inside and outside.
*Nylon webbing core, glued and stitched in, 600-lb break strength
*Buckle end skived down for comfort
*Brass or solid Stainless Steel roller buckle and screw set
*Available in black, brown, or natural colors. Also available in custom colors for an upcharge. (Can be matched to a custom holster at the time of order.)
*LIFETIME WARRANTY

In this particular case, the prize being offered by Michael’s Custom Holsters is a black leather belt with stainless steel hardware (exactly like the one pictured above, I would imagine), custom fabricated and cut to the winner’s particular measurements, so instead of mailing the prize directly to you, I will put the winner in touch with Michael and you all can go from there.

Unfortunately, I do not own one of these myself so I cannot personally attest to how shiny they may be, but SayUncle does and can, and I can tell you that Michael’s work on his holsters is impressive, as is his willingness to try new and different things to satisfy his customer’s peculiar desires (speaking of, I really owe him a photo/review post). Unsurprisingly, I am not alone in my sentiments, and if Michael is willing to put his stamp of approval on these belts, I have every reason to believe they are worth it.

Which brings me to the part you all are probably interested in – how do you get this awesome piece of leather wrapped around your waist? Well, with the introduction of another custom item into the mix, I am going to have to throw out the poll from yesterday (sorry everyone who voted (all nine of you)) and go with the "you can designate tickets for separate pools" concept. Given that a non-zero number of gracious donors are requesting that their tickets be earmarked for "Any Soldier", and given the custom nature of this belt and yesterday’s holster, I cannot come up with a good way to handle the communication / fabrication / delivery / etc. necessary to see these items to their winners, nor am I necessarily sure soldiers in the field want to keep track of an item / certificate / email they have no real, immediate use for Over There. Feel free to tell me I am wrong, but present a compelling case in the process (including, predominantly, how to handle the whole "measurement" problem).

Stand by for a rule update to the Soldiers Angels Fundraiser and Giveaway main post, and those of you who have already donated will be receiving an email in the near future, but the short story is that there will be a "general" pool, a "holster" pool, and a "belt" pool, and you will tell me how many of your tickets you want filed in which. Sorry for the confusion and constant changes – this is the first time I have run something this large.

So given my batting average of 1.000 so far in regards to soliciting donated items, who else should I bug? What brands/products do you all want to see on the list? Personally, I was considering pursuing Crimson Trace, but that may be a little optimistic…

[Update] The original post has been updated and the rules modified appropriately for the introduction of customizable prizes. Please refer back there for details. If you donated already, you should be getting an email from me shortly. [/Update]