A few weeks ago I woke up one morning to a very nice e-mail from Mike at Armour Belts. It seemed that I'd been fortunate enough to win the contest he had been running for a free gun belt on another forum. Being that I very rarely enter these anymore, it was a rather nice surprise. I thanked him for the good news and told him I would get back to him with what I wanted. Now came the hard part, deciding how I wanted the belt configured. After mulling it over for the weekend I still wasn't sure just what I wanted the belt to look like. In hopes of getting a little guidance I e-mailed Mike to get his take on several of the combinations I was thinking about. He quickly e-mailed me back with several pictures depicting the different color/thread combinations, as well as his thoughts on what I wanted to be a casual looking belt. Not long after I placed my order and then promptly forgot about the belt. Not more than a few days later Mike e-mailed me to let me know that the belt was being made and apologized for the delay. That's service!
On Tuesday of this past week I was sitting at work when my wife texted me to let me know I had a "belt shaped package" waiting on the dining room table. When I got home this is what I found.
Close-up of the belt (Tan belt with white thread):
The craftsmanship and quality of this belt is unbelievable, especially given the short time between ordering and receiving the belt. What immediately struck me about the belt was how thick it is, 11/32" according to my calipers, this thing is beefy. To say I'm impressed would be an understatement. I was excited to get the chance to wear it over the course of the week and this weekend. The thing I enjoyed most about the belt was the lack of need to do a lot of "adjusting" during the day. Between the belt and an excellent holster I was already using from Ozarks Holster Co the gun stays put without any worry. I have other gun belts from other gun belt makers, and all are excellent, but I can truly say that Mike's belts are in a class unto themselves. This is my first Armour gun belt, but it most certainly will not be my last.
Fully loaded P30 (in an Ozark's Holster Co hybrid):
If anyone that doesn't know about Mike and Armour Belts is looking for their first, or second, or twelfth gun belt, you owe it to yourself to check them out.
I will admit that while this is my first gun belt from them, this isn't my first Armour Belts' product. About a year ago I found myself in need of a new dress belt. Growing tired of the thin crappy offering at most department stores, I went in search of a quality dress belt that would hold up for more than a year before falling apart. Someone on another forum turned me on to Armour's dress belts. I thought I'd give it a shot, seeing as how the cost of the custom made belt was only about $10 more that the name brand belts from the big chain stores. What I got was a fantastic belt.
This is the belt after almost a year of 5 day/week wear. The belt shows almost no signs of wear and still looks great. I have been contemplating a second (and possibly third) dress belt so that I can begin rotating them for variety's sake. My recent gun belt fortune just further strengthens my desire for this.
Brown w/brown thread:
I hope anyone looking for a new gun belt (or dress belt) will give Mike and Armour Belts a look.
