Many of us own nylon gun belts with Cobra buckles. Most of us like these belts except for one problem. The buckles don’t fit through the belt loops of our pants no matter if they are your favorite jeans or 5.11 type pants. Honestly, it’s a pain to remove the buckle every time you wear the belt. In fact, there have been times I’ve skipped wearing the belt and gone with a regular gun belt.

Blue Alpha Gear EDC Hybrid belt.

That problem has been solved by a small company in Atlanta, Georgia called Blue Alpha Gear. The three owners make the belts themselves in one of the owners garage. Nothing uncommon about that with a small company which started about a year ago. The owner I speak with named Kurt told me they want to expand the business, hire employees and turn out some innovative gear they are designing. Kurt told me they talked about this same problem of the buckle needing to be removed to use a belt with a Cobra buckle and came up with the “Hybrid” belt which uses a smaller buckle half which does fit any 1 1/2 belt loop.

The hybrid buckle

Kurt contacted the company in Austria that makes Cobra buckles and ordered a large number of these hybrid buckles. This time the guys used a Kickstarter campaign to help raise the money for the number of buckles required as a minimum order by the Austrian company. You can check the Kickstarter page here to see how the campaign works and what you get for helping out. There are only three days left!

Kurt told me they decided to not use a stiffener between layers of nylon rather they used a medium strength nylon material which is stiff enough for holster use. There is one other grade of nylon but it’s so stiff and abrasive it tends to wear out the belt loops of the pants as well as wear on the holster depending on what material the holster is made of. As far as sizing they decided to make it very simple and less confusing. The buyer simply orders a belt the same size as the pants waist size. There is enough material to allow for adjustment of a size up or down. Should you get a belt and it doesn’t fit just call and they will ship out another belt when your belt is returned on their dime. There are no extra charges for larger belts. Kurt said they made a size 62 inch belt and didn’t charge a thing for the extra material. These guys are all about customer service!

The cost of the new hybrid belt is $64.95. They do make other belts for less money just check the website to see the other styles. Blue Alpha Gear Website

The belt hold your gun close to the body.

This video shows the belts advantages and how it works.

I received a Wolf Gray belt several days ago so I haven’t had as much time as I would like to test it. I have worn it each day since I got it and it continues to hold my full size 1911 close to the body with no sign of stretching. The belt fits through the belt loops easily without having to remove part of the buckle.

The photo above shows my carry rig for the days I’ve used the Hybrid belt. Remington 1911 in a Wilson Combat Sharkskin holster.

Materials Used:

Hybrid Cobra Buckle

CNC machined from lightweight 7075 aircraft aluminum
Breaking strength of over 2000 pounds
Used for military, rock climbing, and other heavy duty load bearing purposes.
Very satisfying “Click” when you connect it.
Nylon Webbing

Two layers of 1.5″ resin impregnated nylon webbing sewn together
4015 Webbing with a breaking strength of over 4000 lbs
Rigid yet comfortable
Unlike leather belts, there’s no stretching or sagging