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I found the screws hard to install once they made contact with the belt. The included allen wrench rounded screws and made getting the screws completely seated impossible. I also tried with my own 2mm allen driver which worked a bit better but all the screws are rounded. I work on guns and EDC stuff regularly and am good with tools but this caught me.
Anyone have experience with this? Thanks.
Re KORE specifically, no. Re all manner of products manufactured overseas with janky hardware, all the time. Assembling some chairs/desks for my kids to use this Spring is what drove me to identifying and buying quality tools for that and other applications going forward. I concur that using the best driver possible (I have been taken with Felo from Germany via KC Tool) may mitigate rounding out less than quality hardware.
From the KORE Website
"All of our products are designed, proto-typed and tested at our offices in San Diego, California, USA - and manufactured in Asia. As a matter of fact, 95% of all apparel sold in the USA is manufactured in Asia. Doing so enables us to save a substantial amount of money that we pass on to customers. As Americans, we would prefer to make our belts in the USA, but unfortunately it would cost an estimated 2-3 times as much and we couldn't locate a facility that was willing to do it. We understand there are those who would pay more if it were 'Made in the USA' - but most of our clients appreciate the lower prices and savings."
IMHO, sounds like a marginal product used marginal hardware and they were destined to round from jump street. You could try to used that 1 yr warranty coverage under "normal use" or their 30 day return policy. You could likely source better hardware locally. As a get me down, you might cut a slot across them and use a standard "flat" driver.
You summed it up nicely. I like the belt for what I need it for. I need a "dress" belt for when I wear suits / sport jackets when carrying OWB strong side under the jacket. I wouldn't use this belt when carrying AIWB (for me that's most of the time).Quote:
Originally Posted by vcdgrips
I think it might even work without the screws but I'd rather have them than not. I like the idea of finding a better screw (pointed instead of flat) that will mate with the threading in the holes.
I wanna say the supplied Allen wrench that came with my belt like that seemed awful sloppy in the set screws so I ended up just using one of those micro tool sets that has the small handle driver along with micro Allen, torx, Phillips and slotted bits. Tightened the screws down good on mine with no rounding.
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Slightly different experience which I find interesting so just sharing. I've set up and used 2 KORE Essentials gun belts. One for every day, Run N Gun, and action shooting. One for dress. No problems with the Allen wrenches or set screws at all. On the action belt I've carried 2 AR mags, three 21 rd G19 mags, a G19, plus holding up my pants with another AR and G19 mag in pockets while running a 15K plus Run N Gun, multiple times. No problems at all.
Happy shooting, Jerry
I emailed and called Kore. The guy I spoke with admitted they had problems with the screws being machined just off enough to cause the slop. They sent me new screws and wrench the day after I emailed. Happy enough with their response. He also told me what kind of screw (M4, 6mm) to get on my own if I wanted to. For kicks, I did that with some philips machine screws. Because the machine screw pan heads don't sink all the way into the buckle cut-outs, an 8mm screw is needed. One thing that contributed to the initial rounding problem was that I applied some VR-3 Vibra-tite to the screws, which increased the torque needed to screw in. The new screws came, I couldn't tell much difference from the first ones.
This is perhaps an example of Chinese / Asian manufacturing having softer screws / wrenches and sloppier tolerances for the sake of lower cost. Looks like you pay one way or the other. Otherwise, this leather gun belt for lighter use (4lbs rating) seems solid.
I just ordered their new X7 Tactical nylon gun belt (8lbs rated). This one has a smaller buckle designed for AIWB. I hope I like it because I'm sick of dealing with velcro.
Please keep us posted on this. I don't AIWB but I like the concept of the smaller buckle.Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry T