Hooded Olive Drab Jacket

[leatherneck]

I'm looking for a relatively affordable olive drab jacket with a hood. It can be cotton or NYCO, but I don't want insulation. Ideally it would look like the German combat jacket but in Olive drab. I was watching a Ray Mears episode wear he was trekking the British Columbia foothills and he was wearing a simple Olive Drab hooded jacket. I know the stuff he wears is quite expensive, but after looking at it, I figured there must be an army surplus lookalike. Does anyone know where I could find something like this? Or, if you know of at least the names of countries that might have army surplus like this?

BTW, I know a hood is needed for winter coats, but do you use a hood for autumn, spring, and fall much? I'm thinking I might be able to get away with something without a hood, but i olive drab of course.

 

[Graham_S]

the m65 jacket is highly regarded. it has a liner, but it can be removed. and it's available in plenty of colours

 

[Dogface]

I'll second that! I've got a couple of M65s, one black, one OD. Ok, so they may not be the most water-proof, but I've been out in heavy rain with them - as long as you've got the liner fitted that seems to keep the wet off even if the outer layer is soaked through. I've never water-proofed mine, but I'm sure that can be done without tooo much trouble.

They're warm, got plenty of pocket space, are hard-wearing and pretty cheap (about £45).

Of course, Ray doesn't wear them - is that an issue?

ps. They have a hood that hides away in the collar.

Cheers,

Nick.

 

[Spacemonkey]

I've got an olive green sas smock made by www.SASSkit.co.uk as seen here:

http://www.sasskit.co.uk/products/militaryclothing/sassmock.htm

Don't know what you class as cheap, but it is made in the UK to your spec and measurements for £99. It's quite water resistant as it comes as the fabric is pre treated MOD spec stuff, though I have just treated mine again with fleurocarbon, and will be hitting Pen Y Fan tomorrow, so it's bound to get wet! I also got some matching trousers made up in Soldier 95 pattern.

 

[sandbender]

OK maybe twice as much as a good quality M65 but for £99 the smock from SASS is a fantastic bit of kit that will last for years.

http://www.sasskit.co.uk./

 

[CLEM]

Another vote for the sass jacket here,first rate jacket by a first rate company.

 

[Adrian]

Sass are excellent - but I have an Arktis smock which I now swear by - also comes in at about £100 depending where you get it. If you deal with the company direct, they are extremely helpful, to say the least and are a real joy to deal with (usual disclaimers here - ie not employed etc.!)
M65 though is very hard to beat, especially for the price, and is easily made fairly waterproof with any product (Grangers, Nikwax, Scotchgard). I switched only because I find it a bit heavy for late Spring-early Autumn.

 

[leon-1]

It may be worth seeing if you can pick up a Fjallraven jacket on e-bay as they sometimes have them on there, unfortunately most of the time it is Germany and Germany only as they will not ship outside.

 

[CLEM]

I've got an olive green sas smock made by www.SASSkit.co.uk as seen here:

http://www.sasskit.co.uk/products/militaryclothing/sassmock.htm

Don't know what you class as cheap, but it is made in the UK to your spec and measurements for £99. It's quite water resistant as it comes as the fabric is pre treated MOD spec stuff, though I have just treated mine again with fleurocarbon, and will be hitting Pen Y Fan tomorrow, so it's bound to get wet! I also got some matching trousers made up in Soldier 95 pattern.

Thinking of going this route meself,I thought about going for the Speznatz trousers in olive green!

 

[Moonraker]

It may be worth seeing if you can pick up a Fjallraven jacket on e-bay as they sometimes have them on there, unfortunately most of the time it is Germany and Germany only as they will not ship outside.

That's a good idea still saving my pennys for one of these:

Fjällräven - Telemark II

Tamarack do them for £99 which I reckon is v. good value for money, though not cheap.

Personally I would prefer a tough poly cotton jacket like this to a smock, which I found a tad too militaristic and I do prefer a concealed hood, but it's horses for courses as they say.

So hows the FJ jacket/s going leon?

 

[leatherneck]

For those that own smock style jackets, how often do you actually use the hoods? The more I think about it, the more I think I might go with a M65 or coat like Moonraker suggested. I like the look of smocks, but I think I prefer a good brimmed hat to wearing a hood in the rain or sun.
BTW, thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[leon-1]

Most of the time I use a hat (Barmah), summer and winter. My normal Jacket is a West-Winds short Parka (alas they don't make it anymore), but the hood is normally rolled up as an extra thick collar.

If I am not using that then I use a Fjallraven jacket that is M65 style and made in G1000 material. I don't like hoods that much, they tend to hinder your vision and your hearing and are only really good in the foulest of conditions where you can't see or hear a lot anyway.

 

[sandbender]

For those that own smock style jackets, how often do you actually use the hoods?

I live in Scotland, so about twelve times a day...

 

[Moonraker]

they tend to hinder your vision and your hearing and are only really good in the foulest of conditions where you can't see or hear a lot anyway.

Good point. Also the hood tends to get caught up unless rolled up as leon describes but I find that was uncomfortable for me.

 

[Moonraker]

I live in Scotland, so about twelve times a day...

only twelve? but perhaps having a hood is an advantage with ferocious Scottish midges, mosquitoes etc?

 

[Spacemonkey]

On Pen Y Fan today it was warm out of the wind, but the wind on the ridge must have been about 60-70mph and icy cold. Quite often the wind caught me and tried to push me to the edge... in this situation the SASS combo was windproof and I was warm enough and I wore my watch cap so that I had max head movement for visibilty. On the descent past Fan Y Big (stop sniggering at the back..) the weather had had enough eand decided to hail/snow/sleet all in one (even though the sun still shone. Odd..) and as the wind was quite bighting I put the hood up over the Benny hat so that my face and ears were not getting stripped of skin by the hail etc. Worked great and didn't get wet or cold. The trousers are ace too
It's worth noting though that their cut is generous to say the least. The design is baggy, and if you are a stick boy like me then i would go for a size down from normal. How do the rest of you find them sizewise?

 

[CLEM]

Iam a big chap,not overly tall at about 6foot but I am of a bulky build.I ordered for a 46 inch chest but the smock still looks massive on me(well it does to me atleast) with loads of room underneath for other clothing.Reckon I should have maybe ordered for a 44 inch chest as these certainly come up on the large size.I got a drop liner for it too but Ive not actually had to use it yet.1st rate build quality though and I will buy another some day for sure just one a little smaller next time perhaps.

 

[Toots]

Have recently been tempted by a SASS smock too. What is the difference(s) between cotton gabardine and ventile.

 

[leon-1]

Have recently been tempted by a SASS smock too. What is the difference(s) between cotton gabardine and ventile.

The quick and easy answer is the weave and the type /quality and quantity used in the weave. Ventile has a far higher amount of strands in the weave than gaberdine and the weave is far tighter as well. The quality of the cotton is of a very high degree that is used for Ventile( quality wise something stupid like the top 5% of fibres is used in Ventile).

 

[Toots]

So ventile is a far superior fabric? I feel a sewing project coming on!!!!