They were issued to the Royal Marines who trained in Norway every year. They are an upgraded 58 pattern bag, with more filling so warmer and heavier, and has an external zip baffle to minimise heat loss. My brother used them in Norway and reckons they were great kit if you had a good one. The problem with any second hand bad is there's no way to tell how long they have been stored in compression sacks, nor how often they have been laundered/dry cleaned, both of which reduce the effectiveness of the bag.
My understanding based on my bro's experience is they are great bags when new or in good condition. Older bags will have lost filling, which is feather not down, so the spikey feathers come through the bag and get lost.
As for the new issue bags, well the same applies regarding how warm they are. An older well washed bag won't be very warm. I have a brand new one labelled ''arctic issue'' but haven't yet used it below zero degrees. It was very warm at that temp though.
I may be wrong on this next point and am happy to be corrected but...my understanding is the soldier 95 synthetic bag and the ''arctic issue'' synthetic bag are basically the same bag. Mine has more loft in the foot area than the standard bag but that seems to be the only difference. They both weigh the same.
