Repurposed shotgun shell belt pouch

Looks like a good piece of gear for the shotgun that lives in a vehicle.

NoirFan

I always like a good job of repurposing something. Nice work with the Polish milsurp grenade pouches (and done fairly inexpensively too)!

FL-NC said:

Looks like a good piece of gear for the shotgun that lives in a vehicle.

Click to expand...

I keep an NEF 12 gauge single shot in the jeep, may have to consider checking these out.

Some years ago I did something similar when I decided I needed to have extra rounds for my shotgun on the street - but I went in a bit different direction... I took an old cloth bandolier meant for M-16 magazines that was issued to us back during the VN war and thought it might be just right for standard five round cardboard boxes that slugs and buckshot rounds came in. I was concerned that most bandoliers left the rounds exposed to all kinds of dirt and environmental problems - even when most of the time that bandolier only rode in my vehicle's trunk. I found that if you cut out the bottom of each cardboard box you could load a box and rounds in each slot with the label up so you could tell at a glance what you had available. It was a snap to toss the bandolier over my shoulder cross-wise when we were in a possible weapons situation and yet every round was safely contained and dirt free until needed. In use I simply pulled just the cardboard out of the slot - leaving five rounds ready to load one at a time from the bandolier, as needed.

Even if you were down on the ground or in heavy vegetation that rig worked like a charm - and those old cloth bandoliers are still available - and quite cheap. I never filled one completely - the most extra rounds I ever carried were maybe 25 or 30 - and each round stayed in new condition for years.... I put another one together recently with both regular and flite-control rounds - it stays with my current shotgun, ready to go if needed. One glance at the tops of the boxes and you can clearly see exactly what rounds you might need.

The best part is that I never needed those extra rounds on the street... In fact during a 22 year career I only fired one shot with my shotgun - and I wish that it had never happened at all.

$10 for triple M4 mag shingle, $7 for Allen shotgun shell belt, free paint stirrers as the internal stiffener, few cents worth of paracord, and an hour of my life rebuilding the belt into the shell caddies pictured below:

You will probably find that as you use ammo out of it, the loosely packed ammo will tend to work it’s way out the ends even when buckled. This usually occurs when bending over to pick up game or spent shells. Don’t ask me how I know this! But it worked great for carrying ammo under the seat in the truck or in the tool box.

lemaymiami: do you have a pic? Sounds like a great
setup.

I have an old pouch for something or other that fits a box of shells just fine:

Thanks, Dr. Rob! I knew it was too short for M14 mags, but of the same era. A box of 2 3/4" fits in there with a little wiggle room, but not enough for a 3" box. Loose 3" fit real tight.

Very few things are as useful as the assorted milsurp pouches and carry-all's. Problem is North American made issue stuff has gotten really friggin' expensive. Been using an M1 Carbine mag pouch as a tool kit(computers) for eons. Thinking it needs replacing due to its collector value. Ditto for the Brit/Commonwealth issue small pack I have.

Things have definitely gotten more expensive. I bought these at least 5yrs ago, and have less than $30 into each of the hunting 'packs' pictured below, all picked up at the local surplus shack. The desert camo is set up for coyote calling, fully loaded as pictured; it contains (among other things) a rangefinder on the chest, a couple handheld lights, the orange braided critter drag/carrier, AR mags, those shotgun shell slips pictured above, a Foxpro Spitfire with remote and a Primos auxillary controllable motorized decoy, binos, skinning gloves & knives, spare batteries, a few spare mouth calls... All of it readily at hand on the front of the pack, and all organized, rather than being lumped all into a ruck on my back. The green was set up for archery turkey hunting, since it's set up for my left hand bow. It has a rangefinder on the left breast, binos, dressing tool, caping knife, drag rope, grunt call, archer's tool/wrench, handheld lights and headlamp... And a lot of other odds and ends I end up using during a day of hunting, chapstick, tags, wallet, phone, backup phone charger/battery, etc... All of the gear ready at hand, well organized, with no need to ever take the pack off...

I saw an add at Midway this summer for the FLC's (the "vest" part of my packs) which were $19.99... I paid $5 each for mine, and 2 for $5 for the triple mag shingles and grenade pouches!! On the other hand, however, I have a couple Kifaru and Eberlestock packs which were about $200 each, and these mil-surps are more modular, and built just as well, so maybe even the new prices aren't as bad as they seem.