Everybody complains about ALICE clips.  They dig into your hip, come loose and lose gear, make noise, add a little weight, let pouches slide around…  Alice clips are just something we learn to put up with for lack of something better.

I tried heavy zip ties, but they let everything slide around worse than ALICE clips do.  The Malice (get it, mALICE ?) clips from Tactical Tailor seemed like a great idea, but aren't much better than zip ties.

While making some holsters and knife sheaths from Kydex, I came up with the idea for Kydex  ALICE clips.  First I tried making a clip that overlapped, but it was too stiff to get through the pouch loops or around a pistol belt.  My final version sticks up (or down) from the pistol belt a little, but that hasn't been a problem so far.

I made the clips for a buttpack 1 1/2" wide, and for almost everything else 3/4" wide. Check your pouches, I had a few that were odd sized. You want them to be snug in the slots, but not so tight that they're a pain to get through. Cut them to about 7" long. You'll shorten them after forming, but they are hard to get right if you shorten them first.  I have been using tin snips to cut Kydex.  It works but it's a pain (Daniel61 says he's had great results with a saber saw and an upside down cutting blade).

Heat the Kydex to 300 degrees, no hotter. Don't leave it in too long. When you smell something like plastic burning it's almost ready. It will get very flexible. I do about three pieces at a time, leaving the oven door open a little after I get the first piece out, so the rest won't get too hot.

Handle with gloves when you take it out of the oven. Lay on a flat surface (piece of plywood) with the slick side of the Kydex up. Put the metal mold in the middle, fold over and press down hard with something soft, backed by a hard flat piece (I bolted two layers of carpet padding
to a piece of 1/2" plywood). Hold until the Kydex cools and hardens.  If you don't get it right the first time, just heat it up and start over.

Drill a hole 2 3/4" from the folded over end and 3/8" from the side.  I used brass #10 screws and nuts but Chicago screw would work at least as well.  Rivets can be used, but would be more trouble to take off.  Cut the clip to 3" from the folded end (tin snips work well for short cuts like this).  Round the corners of the cut end with a file or sander.

The Kydex ALICE clips hold pouches in place on the pistol belt very securely.  The only down side is that they are slow to put on and take off.  For anything frequently swapped off the pistol belt (like my field knife), I still use a metal ALICE clip.

Solothurn

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