The great cartridge belt debate - part 1
I know that for many of you, currently the big issue in your lives, isn’t whether the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England will cut interest rates next time it meets, nor is it ‘global warming; should I give a toss’. No, the really pressing issue is, what sort of cartridge belt should I buy? This as experienced shooters know is a question fraught with both difficulty & danger. Get the right one & you have purchased one of the most useful pieces of kit a shooting chap can have: get the wrong one & you will end up looking like Pancho Villa.
As you can see from the picture below, this sort of use of a cartridge belt is deemed to be inappropriate at a lot of shoots.
First of all, when considering those really big decisions in life, such as the purchase of the aforementioned piece of equipment, consider this: unless you are a terribly nice sort of a chap that receives a large number of very smart invitations to blast game from his chums, the number of times that you will shoot more than 25 cartridges in a day are unfortunately limited. Of course the exceptions to this a pigeon & rabbit shooting, but thankfully in these instances the good Lord has seen fit to give us hides & 4x4s in which to stash enough ammo to fight a medium scale colonial war. However for the rest of us mere mortals, a belt well charged will suffice – leaving pockets clear for booze & tobacco i.e. the essential survival kit for the shooting man.
A lot of the received wisdom relating to this thorny topic advocates the ‘closed loop’ variety where each individual cup is sealed at the bottom, preventing the cartridges from slipping down & thus easier to get out.
However, those of us from the ‘open loop’ school regard this as complete heresy.
Now I know that a lot of you out there in some of the more arid parts of the world & lets face it, most of the globe is in comparison to England in November (or Scotland in August), can recount numerous tales of shooting in T-shirts & flip flops – but down in these yerrrr paaaarrrrrts the hallmark of the shooting season is weather than would have defeated even Shakleton. In fact, I have found over the years that a good layer of body fat is conducive to good marksmanship as, more often than not, said armed revelry will be conducted in the cold & wet whilst wearing that recent innovation … a pair of gloves & it is a damn sight easier to be able to push a cartridge out of a belt from underneath that trying to fumble around trying to find the brass cap with frozen puddies.
So, there you are, you pays your money & you takes your choice until sure time as the ever nosey Home Office tries to regulate cartridge belts, along with every thing else.
(In Part 2 of this post, we will deal with the issue of ‘In or Out’ – where tiz better to wear your belt under your coat or not; a small matter to some but a question that has vexed some of our greatest philosophers for generations.)
Comments
The Manolo he say the cup-bottom is for the gliding metal and the open loop is for the shot-shells - but for the en-bloc semi there is only the M1923.
Posted by: -keith in mtn. view | July 28, 2005 5:03 PM
Strangely enough, I have some thoughts on this.
A (possibly derranged), fan presented me with a gift of a guitar strap fashioned as a bandelero. Conchos, little leather bits, ammo loops, etc. You get the idea.
Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that the ammo loops were partially filled with live ammo? They were, and still are. I know that the ammo is live because, later, I happened to bump into the artist who made this contraption. He assured me that the ammo was live.
My problem is this: Since I can't reasonably wear this thing in a live club situation (with drunks, lit cigarettes, et al), how do I make this dealiebob safe, while still maintaining the "artistic integrity" of the piece?
Your help would be much appreciated.
Posted by: Hog Whitman | July 28, 2005 6:57 PM
Ah what about the more modern plastic holder where you can just pull the cartridge out, and also have them fall out as you climb a stile...
Posted by: Tim | July 28, 2005 7:57 PM
This question is really for one's loader, isn't it?
Posted by: staghounds | July 28, 2005 8:21 PM
"This question is really for one's loader, isn't it?"
Erm, ahem, well of course, of course. The only problem being that due to the excessive war spending by the evil bushitler, the economics of having one's own loader was no longer making fiduciary sense. Or any kind of sense, actually. But I did get to finally use the word "fiduciary" in a sentence.
Maybe I could dig out the cordless and drill little holes in the casings, shake out the powder, and use it for Bar-B-Que starter?
Oh wait, we've switched to propane. Never mind.
Posted by: Hog Whitman | July 28, 2005 10:04 PM
To kill the primers and render the ammo inert, a good dousing with a high volatile lube or solvent like WD-40 should do the trick. Definately keep them away from your reloading supplies.
A cartridge relies on the surrounding chamber to hold and contain the pressures necessary that actually spit the little lead bullet down the barrel.
Ammo alone by itself isn't particularly dangerous as a projectile-launcher without the cylinder/chamber/barrel combination - the brass easily splits and the powder burns-off in a poof, throw some in a campfire and see! :-)
Posted by: -keith in mtn. view | July 29, 2005 1:07 AM
Hog,
Do NOT, repeat, NOT, drill into the brass of a live round. Drilling equals friction, causing heat, rapid burning of smokeless powder, and a trip to the nearest trauma hospital. I'm a paramedic, and I've seen the results of drilling into a cartridge case. (The guy wanted to make it safe so his kids could play with it!)
Posted by: Skippy | July 29, 2005 5:58 AM
Better just to pull the bullet:
http://www.gswagner.com/bigreloading/pullers/pullers.html
http://www.benchrest.com/hoodpress/bullet_puller.html
http://www.cabelas.com/products/Cpod0012539.jsp
http://www.midwayusa.com/rewriteaproduct/680804
Posted by: -keith in mtn. view | July 29, 2005 6:24 PM
Thanks for the advice, but I wasn't really going to drill into a cartridge casing. Just being mischievious.
How we survived unscathed, I'll never know, but as preteens, our little group of delinquents would make our own fireworks by emptying the powder from rifle shells stolen from someone's dad. The method we used was to put the shell in a vice and break off the bullet (and part of the casing), with a pair of pliers.
I still shudder when I think of it.
Posted by: Hog Whitman | July 30, 2005 8:17 PM
Damnitall, Mr. FM. The problem with being errrrr well-insulated against the cold (okay, FAT) has a distinct disadvantage vis-a-vis that pic of the cartridge belt: you can't reach around the back to pluck the shell from the holder.
My suggestion is a fine leather pouch, such as worn by the gentry (or their loaders) for the past hundred years.
William Powell & Sons (http://www.william-powell.co.uk/index3.htm) makes a pretty decent selection, although you'll probably need to have your bank manager approve the transaction.
Posted by: Kim du Toit | July 30, 2005 9:18 PM
Mr. Whitman, did you perhaps intend "financial" rather than "fiduciary" ?
One always has a fiduciary connection with one's loader, second horseman, or even third scullery maid. And vice versa.
Posted by: staghounds | August 4, 2005 1:22 PM