Review: Platatac Young Guns belt & Braces

I thought it was time to cover some of my more martial kit. I have a saying, "when the going gets tough, the tough get MilSpec". Here is a piece that I've found to be very useful. I'm sure we've all had the less than ideal experience of having a belt load of tools and gear sagging and digging into your hips whilst you're running about, being very distracting. Distractions lead to poor survival outcomes. One way to avoid this is to carry less gear, which isn't really in my first choice.
The second option is a better belt. Here is what I've come across that fills that gap. Here is the Platatac Young Gun Belt.

This belt is filled with stiff foam padding and lined on the inside with a breathable mesh, reducing sweating and sticking. The outer is the standard Codura 1000d, which I chose in khaki, as usual. There are three bands of MOLLE running on the left, back and right giving ample attachment options, and I was especially interested to see that the back panel is made up of the loop side of hook-and-loop, for fitting to the internals of a pack, to act as a waist band. This kind of modularity really scores points for me and it is something I've come to expect from this brand. I used it as a place to put my Stargate LRP name-strip, and morale patches. The MOLLE on the left and right flanks also features an extra-wide attachment point,which is the perfect place for a drop-leg sling, or a holster, whichever is most appropriate.

The belt itself curves, tailored in a wide C shape, rather than being straight, adding to the ergonomics of the unit when worn under load, but something important to note is that this is an outer belt fitting, and doesn't actually include a belt to fasten it. However, any belt up to 50mm wide can be fitted through its middle and I used my old trusty webbing belt to secure it, with a piece of scrap paracord weaving as a fob (because I like having busy hands and don't like throwing away scraps.) I tend to use this belt as my "first layer" of kit carriage, with an entrenching tool (not pictured) at my back left, my drop-leg dump pouch from front left, and utility pouches and canteen on the right hand side.

One more excellent feature of this belt are the four D-rings that enable the fitting of the belt to either a vest or armour carrier, or to a set of braces such as the Platatac Combat braces. I was fortunate to get a set bundled in with my belt, after talking to the guys in the shop, and after some time spent fitting and adjusting (as I have a skinny torso, and the braces would easily suit a large manly man) I got a setting that was comfortable enough to wear long term, even with quite a load on the belt.

This is really touch and well put together piece of kit. I'm really satisfied with this set as a load bearer, and good for keeping my "first layer" gear together and on hand, be it for LRP, wilderness adventure or responding to a disaster!