As the Senior Editor of SurvivalBlog, I don’t have the opportunity to write many product reviews. Most of that fun is reserved for our two Field Gear Editors. But I recently received a sample of a new product that captivated me, so I decided to conduct the review test, myself. It is called The Siege Belt. It is a new product that is made by the same folks who manufacture the sturdy Siege Stoves. (You probably recall their name, as one of our advertisers.)
Proviso: I’m not an attorney. Do not consider any of the following as legal advice. Consult an attorney licensed in your state!
Though not marketed as a self-defense tool, the Siege Belt was obviously designed with self-defense in mind. The belt buckle is a slab of metal with considerable heft. The model that I tested has a 1″ wide belt. There is also larger model–with a wider belt — but just the 1″ model is heavy enough that it can be used as a very effective Sap or Sunday Bar. Anyone hit in the head or neck with it is probably going down, with the effect of just one strike.
To use the buckle as a sap, most of the length of the belt is wrapped around your hand, with the buckle dangling just six to 15 inches. Or, to use it as a Sunday Bar (for the “brass knuckles” effect) the entire length of the belt is coiled around the buckle, and then that bundle is held clenched in your fist. That makes for a heavy fist!
I won’t veer off into an essay on belt buckle self-defense tactics and techniques when there is a free instructional video available, from a third party. Take a few minutes to watch this:
How to Use a Belt as an Improvised Weapon.
The Belt, in Combat
The belt can be used for swinging in very close quarters or for long-range by simply adding or releasing the number of wraps around your hand. The custom-made belt material — made just for Siege — is a super high-density nylon that has over 9,000 lbs of tensile strength in the wide belt (for the large buckles) and almost 8,000 lbs for the standard width belts (for the standard size buckles). For comparison, military-spec nylon is closer to just 1,000 lbs tensile strength in 1″ width and will stretch a lot. The strength of the Siege Belt webbing may be overkill, but it ensures that the belt can handle anything, and of course it makes the belt very durable. The webbing has an 8-year warranty, and is securely bolted to their custom-designed buckles. The webbing also wraps nicely around the hand with a secure grip provided by the ribbed texture.
Some Legalities
In martial arts and gun training, discussions often inevitably lead to the legal issues of where you can and cannot carry a weapon. This distinction is often termed: “permissive environments” versus “non-permissive environments.” I am blessed to live in a both gun-friendly and knife-friendly state. It is one of the 24 states of the Union that has enacted Constitutional Carry — also known as permitless concealed carry. I’m pleased to report that Ohio, Georgia, and Indiana have all just recently joined that esteemed roster of states. Sadly, there are still 26 other states that are not as weapons-friendly. My state is also an open-carry state. You basically can tote whatever you want, wherever you want, openly, concealed, or in your vehicle. The only exceptions, annoyingly, are inside of courthouses and on Federal property, such as post offices. It is great living in a Constitutional Carry state! But I often travel to states that don’t recognize the right to keep and bear arms, and where carrying a gun or some knives is a potential felony. As I see it, where the Siege Belt really has great merit is in these non-permissive environments. It could literally save your life, in a street fight. Yet you can legally pass through security checks at concerts, amusement parks, and even at airports.
Like their stoves, both the buckles and belts manufactured by Siege are made in the United States. That fact means a lot to me, and to many SurvivalBlog readers. The owner of the company is James Fisher. He was born in New Zealand, spent his youth in South Africa, and is now a staunchly patriotic American. In a phone conversation, he told me that he has no intention of moving his stove production or belt production offshore.
James Fisher sent me this description of how the buckles are made:
“The hand-made craftsmanship is also an important quality of these belts, with the buckles taking about an hour each to produce. There are 37 steps to be performed using multiple machine stations, several with custom-made jigs. This results in a buckle with various little touches like the edge chamfering front and back, hand bullet-nosing of the prongs, and rounding of the nuts and bolts and even slightly curving the buckles to conform to the human form. Everything is designed to provide the ultimate performance without any compromises: curved prongs facilitate lighting-fast release, the heft and density of the buckle ensure high-speed flight with minimal wind-resistance, with heavy-duty bolts securing the buckle to the super-strong webbing for complete dependability. I revived the belts after a 10-year hiatus while the master craftsman inventor pursued other interests and more recently cancer treatment. He finally got the all-clear a few weeks ago, which is great news, but he is quite old and with hand problems won’t be making more, and I didn’t want him to take the craft to the grave, so I convinced him to teach me the process. I am not able to produce many of them, but have a few dozen that I traveled to Sonora to make over a week in November. If I can get the word out and build demand then I will continue to make them. The webbing manufacturer had a $10K minimum order quantity and that was over a decade ago, so I will hopefully be able to raise enough from finishing and selling his existing webbing and buckle blanks to cover the next material order. Time will tell, but it could be that customers are buying the last of its kind.”
He also mentioned:
“With just a little practice I was able able to whip the belt out in less than a second with the end of the belt already securely wrapped around my right hand and the buckle out of sight and ready to fly from my left hand. This impresses people at the few gun shows I have attended, but online sales could certainly use some help getting started, as people don’t seem to be finding the site on their own or grasping the benefits (other than a Florida-based practitioner of Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) who immediately understood their uniqueness and bought seven of them for himself and to give as gifts to his instructor and others).
The Siege Belt is devastatingly effective, as has been attested to over the years by wearers on their travels both domestic and international, and has saved various people from what would have been life-changing situations. A big benefit is that I am able to fly with my belt. I just curl it up around my hand with the buckle in my palm and place it in the tray to be scanned with my keys and wallet. Having the belt on provides peace of mind when walking from to and from a dark parking lot at an airport, and in other places where one can’t carry other options (especially overseas and in left-leaning cities, campuses, etc.). It also makes a practical gift for people one cares about.”
Practicing Belt Buckle Self-Defense
It is a lot of fun to practice with a Siege Belt in a safe outside space — with plenty of clearance all around. Just use caution not to hurt yourself or others. At speed, the buckle can do a lot of damage in a hurry. I do not recommend practicing with these with a sparring partner. The potential for injury is simply too great. Instead, you need a target like a mannequin, a roadkilled deer, or some other sort of insentient piñata. But just using some firmly taped-together cardboard boxes in the shape of an adult human torso and head will suffice. Seeing the condition of those boxes after some belt buckle practice will make you a believer. A heavy belt buckle is a potentially lethal weapon, so treat it as such. By the way, the same thought process that you’d use in unholstering a pistol should be used before you pull a Siege Belt out for self-defense. Also note that in many states, the application of blunt trauma to either the neck or the head of an opponent is considered a life-taking blow. Use such blows only as a “do or die” last resort.
Again, I’m not an attorney. Do not consider anything in this article as legal advice. Consult an attorney licensed in your state.
The Siege Belt is sold online as just a belt–with no mention of its potential for self-defense but only mentioning its strength, durability, and styling. I suspect that this marketing approach is r liability reasons, and to allow them the opportunity to market them on sites such as eBay, which have restrictions on the sales of weapons.
Drawbacks? I can only think of one: The belt that I tested has one black side and one brown side, so it is reversible to match clothing. But switching colors requires removing and replacing a couple of nuts, so this is not something that most folks will find convenient to do very often.
It Will Get a Lot of Use
I really liked my test belt and buckle. I’m confident that they will last me a lifetime of regular wear. And, trust me, I do indeed plan to wear my Siege belt often. It will be a “must” whenever I travel to cities, or when I travel by air or by train. – JWR