I've owned a number of British army PLCE belts for quite a while now and for long time I was always a little worried about the (although very strong) plastic buckle breaking after prolong use (or age).
I've known about roll pin belts for ages and finally got my hands on one. I think what I have is an older plce type as the yoke loops/rings at the rear of the belt or rounded as opposed to square.
Anyhoo....I remember seeing something quite a while back about converting a PLCE belt to a roll pin and now cannot find said info. Am seeing lots of roll pin buckles on the bay but am wondering how easy is it to convert? and of course how to? This way am seeing keeping costs down as a new roll pin can be 30 notes or so. (especially with the yoke loops).
Roll pins were they not fitted to 58 pattern webbing
Soilder 95 with the plastic buckles never in service have i seen one break , however that was in 95 ........crap 21 years ago .
J
Be Prepared.
Plan like its the last loaf on the shop shelves.
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AREA 3
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I added a roll pin to my '58 belt back in the day . Made things easier as I sometimes did and didn't wear body armour and this added about 2 stone and 4 inchs of padding to a mans frame . Much better than the normal original buckle the belts were issued with . The roll pin design meant you could adjust the tightness with a simple pull on the end .
The way we used to do it was to pop rivet the roll pin and about 6 inchs of extra webbing to the cut off ends of the old '58 belt , Then cocoon the fitting with gaffa tape . Not very pretty but did work and I never had a problem with it working loose or not holding .
Places like Dixie's corner, John Bull or Jay jays will either sell roll pin belts or customise belts to have roll pins fitted. Prices vary on what you want doing.