Safari/ Cartridge Belt and Slide Options and Opinions

Murray custom leather makes a leather belt with elastic cartridge holders. I would buy that if I was going with an ammo belt. After asking several people, I elected to go with a Murray customer leather cartridge slide with elastic loops. I wear the cartridge slide on an oversized belt on top of my clothing/regular belt - having used both I do find this less solution to be less bulky than a traditional cartridge belt

Beck said:

Murray custom leather makes a leather belt with elastic cartridge holders. I would buy that if I was going with an ammo belt. After asking several people, I elected to go with a Murray customer leather cartridge slide with elastic loops. I wear the cartridge slide on an oversized belt on top of my clothing/regular belt - having used both I do find this less solution to be less bulky than a traditional cartridge belt

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I find it more versatile as well. Especially since I like to adjust the belt, then move the buckle to the back so it's out of the way. One less thing to (potentially) get hung up on when trying to reload.

I was bought a Rigby leather and elastic 10 shot slide for a birthday by my kids a few years ago. I remain delighted with it. So much so that I bought a second one so have two on my belt when hunting DG now. I don’t believe in running out of ammo!!

Altitude sickness said:

Use 100% beeswax on your brass cartridges to slow the buildup of verdgris in leather loops.

Coat them. Then rub the wax off or polish the case so it doesn’t attract grit

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Never thought of doing this. Any concern with the wax building up in your chamber? Or attracting dirt that sticks in your chamber?

Do you think renwax would work as well as beeswax?

I’ve got a couple different belts and set-ups and am considering adding another custom one or two that make some tweaks for me and my reloading style.

My current “go to” is an Els & Co Craddock Culling Belt. I have two set-up identically (knife + Gerber) one for my .375 H&H and one for my doubles. Aside from dia the double rifle belt reduces cartridges to 6 per side and separates them into pairs to aid in quick reloading. I just had a buddy in South Africa grab another for me for one of my other double rifles since leather stretches/shrinks slightly with the cartridges you use. I’ve found when used previously for the bigger 470 or 500, the smaller dia cases of 450 and 450/400 are a little loose for my tastes and I worry they might fall/bounce out if running, climbing over, or crawling under something. The one pictured below is set-up for my .375 H&H and well used. It’s even been completely submerged/swimming and I added some leather oil to it and am keeping cartridges in it for shape. Sometimes I’ll also add a closed top sommerset pouch from Els and Co to keep solids/softs separate from my primary load. Presently the solids and softs are distinguished by Brass/Nickel cases.



I also have a Trader Keith canvas Zambezi Style Belt for Double Rifle Cartridges. Not a huge fan of it but it is a lot lighter than the Els & Co Belt. It also stains easily. The stains on this were from 1 afternoon of Elephant hunting and are what’s left post handwashing. I don’t like this version for the double rifle version because there’s no separation between cartridges in pairs. I mitigate this by skipping loops to create the separation since it has 20 loops and don’t loose round space.



Lastly I use a couple belt pouches, mainly for my Plains Game Guns.
The Browning holds 10rd and I use of for .270, .308, .30-06, .300WM, and .300H&H.
The elephant leather one was handmade and a gift from a forum member who’s forgotten more about Africa than I can ever learn. I haven’t taken it to Africa yet but plan to use it with my PreWar 275 Rigby or Lee Speed on one of the next trips. I’ll also use it this year deer hunting.
Then I have the two Sommerset closed top pouches from Els & Co (one was made for Rigby and sold by them in London). It’s obviously the Rigby branded one and I use if for the PreWar .275 Rigby. The large is for my .300H&H and .375H&H (note size difference). Sometimes this large one will get added to my Double Rifle Belt to hold a few spare rounds of .375 while I’m carrying/hunting the double rifle and a tracker is carrying my scoped .375. I do this should we need to take bait or make a long/last light shot the double isn’t suitable for.

I use a Murray Leather culling belt, with the elastic loops.
Handles my 375 Ruger, 450-400 and 458.
Very comfortable. Can wear it all day with no issues.

I had a custom one made up for my first trip. A little bit of both styles melded into one. 375hh. Held 5 enclosed and 2 for quicker removal.

I’ve tried a few different ones, this is likely my favorite, made by Vos & Co. love the Els somerset slides too.

I've used this belt and slide holster for my 458 Lott from African Game in TX. Worked fine on the last Buffalo hunt. They didn't come loose and fall out like I had with a canvas holster before.

My son used this cartridge holder for his 416 Ruger cartridges, and it worked good as well. Purchased this from a forum member.

I use this cartridge slide along with a knife and leather man. Had worked very well for me