I believe a primer on surplus is in order. The worlds militaries surplus gear because of A. obsolescence B. excess quantities C. unit wear below acceptable standards or repair D. near/expiration of service life and any combination of all. In addition there is a industry of copied gear. When you pick up a catalog they will refer to surplus as New, Excellent, good and perhaps mention repairs. Copies will be refered to rather coyly as military type, equivelent or style. In my experience anything less than new or excellent has a grand chance of being returned as unserviceable. This is especially so with clothing, sleeping bags and tents. Some gear of more durable nature may be rated good because of dents or simple grime and are worth while.Copied gear is very often junk. Some companies who are MILSPEC suppliers may offer contract overruns or seperate production runs of like quality. Otherwise you are likely getting a chinese made knockoff. I was never so horrified as to order several G.I. anglehead flashlights- themselves no benchmark of quality, and found even these could be cheapened. I patronised Sportman's Guide at one time. Their service was decent, but I found issue with blatant mistatements venturing into the political/issue arena. I politely questioned said comments and found they didn't feel my repeat patronage enough to merit the courtesy of reply. Very few items are unique to one vendor, regardless of their adventure stories about finding your treasure in a Nazi era salt mine. The prices vary widely, some make more money on S/H than the markup, and in the end yu need to find somebody who understands the concept of SERVICE.
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