Culling belts and cartridge slides

[DobeGrant45c]

As a leather-worker I’m always interested in seeing what leather gear folks enjoy and their philosophy of use. There may be another thread where this has already hashed out, but if not.

What is your favorite culling belt/cartridge slide and why?

Hope everyone is doing well. God bless!

 

[Hunting Hitman]

I would like to get one of these that caries 8 shells with custom inlays or script available.

HH

 

[DobeGrant45c]

I would like to get one of these that caries 8 shells with custom inlays or script available.
View attachment 555846

HH

I’ve always thought they did very fine looking work. Definitely know a thing or two about stitching leather!

 

[Red Leg]

My .375 sized Murray belt has a lot of miles on it. I could not improve upon it.

 

[JD Noblin]

For my 500 Nitro Express, I use a leather ammo carrier that my leather-worker made for me. I got the idea from my leather shot-shell carrier that I use in Cowboy Action Shooting that allows me to pull two shells at a time from my belt using only two fingers and thumb of my left hand and quickly rock them both into the chambers at the same time of my side-by-side 12ga. The basic design of the leather carrier and the muscle memory achieved from loading two 12ga shells at the same time readily transferred over to quickly reloading my Heym 500 Nitro Express double rifle.

 

[KIH]

From a total amateur prospective, ain't Els & Co the only solution that protects the cartridges from being bent/destroyed?

 

[cmk]

I just recently got two Els&Co "Somerset open" - one for regular cartridges like 30-06 or 6.5x55, and one for 404J.

They hold 5 cartridges each, and are quite large. But they are beautiful, and are built like tanks with thick, hard leather.

I expect them to last me for life.

 

[Red Leg]

From a total amateur prospective, ain't Els & Co the only solution that protects the cartridges from being bent/destroyed?

Els makes a good product, but short of a plane crash, I am trying to imagine the situation that would bend or destroy ammunition in a belt.

 

[Nhoro]

Els makes a good product, but short of a plane crash, I am trying to imagine the situation that would bend or destroy ammunition in a belt.

I am with Red Leg. At the point where my cartridges are about to break, I fear that I may have bigger problems on my hands. I envision a buffalo trying to insert its horn into my midriff and figure damage to my cartridges would probably not worry me much.

I use a leather 10 round holder-on my belt- nothing fancy. It is nice to be able to take it off without your trousers falling down. I have a cz 550 so 5 rounds in the rifle,e and 10 on my belt should be good for most situations.

 

[cmk]

Totally agree with @Nhoro and @Red Leg. I didn't get them for any über-protective qualities. I needed something to hold the cartridges, and they look really good. But it can't really hurt either.

Though, if the cartridges get bent, I wonder what also got bent in that process...

 

[Boela]

This is my current cartridge belt, a leather and canvas combo made for me by Lindwells Leather. It takes 458 ammo and is set up in a double loop configuration. The extra space between the cartridges makes it very easy to extract two cartridges at a time when I need to reload a empty rifle quickly. It still allows to pull out a single without any problem.

The reason why I chose canvas over leather, is because I live in a tropical part of the world that is very close to the coast. I find that brass corrode quite quickly if left in a leather pouch for extended periods of time when it was exposed to either rain or excessive sweat.

 

[BeeMaa]

Murray Leather Cartridge Belt with leather loops. It will hold anything based on the 375H&H (like the 257WBY or even 458LOTT) equally well.

 

[Llano Estacado]

I would like to get one of these that caries 8 shells with custom inlays or script available.
View attachment 555846

HH

Who makes this? Beautiful and appears particularly handy

 

[BeeMaa]

Who makes this? Beautiful and appears particularly handy

Els & Co. available in the US at African Sporting Creations.
https://www.africansportingcreations.com/somerset-open-cartridge-pouch.html

 

[Tam Dl]

For my 500 Nitro Express, I use a leather ammo carrier that my leather-worker made for me. I got the idea from my leather shot-shell carrier that I use in Cowboy Action Shooting that allows me to pull two shells at a time from my belt using only two fingers and thumb of my left hand and quickly rock them both into the chambers at the same time of my side-by-side 12ga. The basic design of the leather carrier and the muscle memory achieved from loading two 12ga shells at the same time readily transferred over to quickly reloading my Heym 500 Nitro Express double rifle.View attachment 555851View attachment 555852View attachment 555853

I like CAS leatherwear. There is a version of those leather loops that I like that has a division between the pairs, so that they are a little better separated. So when one goes for them, they come out spaced. And it also means if one cartridge comes out the second is well supported, but not so sticky as it would be if they were in separate loops or compartments.

Given that this is mostly race gear, it may not appeal to some as well as more conventional approaches, but I think one could have a bit of both so that one has a bit of both, without getting too confusing. So deeper and better protected, but also some quick pairs available. The CAS rigs get pretty involved, and would probably be bush velcro, but they do have some good ideas.

 

[Doug3006]

I’m a fan of Murray Custom Leather products. I have several of their slides in various calibers and a culling belt like @Red Leg and @BeeMaa showed in their posts. Mr. Murray is great to work with. As soon as I get my Cape Buffalo hide back from the tanners, he’s going to make a gun case for me. Purpose built stuff always interests me.

 

[TTundra]

Jacques Tredoux double prong belt and two of his 5 round slides:

My short review:

Leather Belt & Pouch Review, Jacques Tredoux Leather

For my hunt this year, I wanted to get a dedicated belt with 2 ammo slides, one for soft and one for solids. My father has had an ELS culling belt for about 5 years and it's quite nice though rather pricey now. I was hoping to find something about as nice, but hopefully quite a bit less in...

www.africahunting.com

 

[Red Leg]

Jacques Tredoux double prong belt and two of his 5 round slides:

View attachment 556119

View attachment 556120


My short review:

Leather Belt & Pouch Review, Jacques Tredoux Leather

For my hunt this year, I wanted to get a dedicated belt with 2 ammo slides, one for soft and one for solids. My father has had an ELS culling belt for about 5 years and it's quite nice though rather pricey now. I was hoping to find something about as nice, but hopefully quite a bit less in...

www.africahunting.com

I agree. I like the look. I ordered a culling belt from them sized for .275 and so engraved. Look forward to getting it.

 

[8 x 60]

A slightly different approach here. This is a "Pig Pouch"
The purpose being for when on driven Boar.
From "Fine Shooting Accssories" in Scotland (no affiliation to me).
Fits on a belt up to 2" wide

 

[BeeMaa]

A slightly different approach here. This is a "Pig Pouch"
The purpose being for when on driven Boar.
From "Fine Shooting Accssories" in Scotland (no affiliation to me).
Fits on a belt up to 2" wide
View attachment 556174

View attachment 556172
View attachment 556173

7x65R...very nice. Is it a single shot?