what jacket and why?

[bobnewboy]

Bought a Struther W/P Smock Field Jacket by Field Pro (Hoggs of Fife), at my local Mole Valley Farmers. I think it will be perfect for good walks, fishing and beating etc in the local countryside, but too nice for rabbiting. It is a good fit - long enough with a generous hood - and made from a quiet material in olive green. There are two zipped pockets and the cuffs are elasticated and velcro adjustable. I'm looking forward to giving it a proper field test in the coming weeks.

Cheers, Bob

I bought the above back in February at a very reasonable price - about £65. I haven’t had the jacket near any fires, but it has proved to be comfy, warm considering it’s lack of bulk, and fairly water resistant. It is also made from a ‘quiet’ material, which is good if you’re stalking, in my case for photography rather than shooting. It is a shorter jacket, covering to just below my bum cheeks, which is good for mobility. When I wrote the original text above I forgot to mention the chest pocket, which has been handy for maps etc while walking.

 

[rustybigend]

i have a couple of gear items from helicon tex and yes they do seem to be quolity. i may have a look at the jacket. i have a temp solution that i think will offer a nice stop gap till i can afford a nice jacket.
i will be using a polycotton work jacket. i'll apply some wax to the outer for extra measure.

 

[Great egret]

Bison Bushcraft Forester Wool Shirt

We are moving over to only supplying our guide and forester shirts ex stock. The website will only let you buy what we have available. The Forester shirt is a full button fronted version of our ever popular Guide Shirts. Available in the same colours and 100% British wool fabric and of course...

bisonbushcraft.co.uk

I have this "shirt", best of both worlds i think

 

[lostplanet]

I guess what i was trying to explain about the french parka, is If you have your midlayer comfortable then you dont need to rely on the outerlayer for warmth so much. Dont think ive ever used a insulated top layer for scrafting (specially when on the move) where there is a good chance of damaging that layer(which happens quite frequently where i go) which is why I moved away from paramo, Fjallraven, bergans.

When on the move between stops Im warm enough usually to just have a poly t shirt and a windproof polycotton smock (in the UK) and then as soon a i stop i use the bivvy jacket either over or under the smock. The way the weather is these days the woolpower 200 is plenty warm enough for most seasons if it is cold, even down to -8 (without windchill)?? is the coldest ive been out in in the last 10 years?? If anything im find myself ventilating the smock because of over heat.
Not saying this is the best option for you, but for me this works. The helikon bushcraft range does look good and its great that there is so much choice and reasonably priced. If varustaleka made the sarma windproof smock and sarma outdoor in different colours I would definitley be getting a RAL as these are Very well made with excellent features.

Outdoor and Military Jackets - Varusteleka.com

Are you looking for a proper army jacket? We have a large selection of army surplus and brand new jackets in Varusteleka. Fast worldwide delivery.

www.varusteleka.com

 

[Kilbith]

Like everybody I could say : Buffalo, Fjallraven, Rab, Varusteleka, Sasta, M65 from Avirex, SASS, MOD jacket....to name few. All are quite good.

But I have also good surprise with "big brands" like Uniqlo and Penfield. They make regularly inspired copy of the very classic 60/40 Sierra Designs parka of the 70'S (probably the first non 100% cotton parka for mountainering).

The great advantage is that you could find them for cheap at the end of the season on the big market.

I have an Uniqlo mountain 60/40 parka and they are well made. Less rugged than a real M65 but this is enough for me except for hunting. You ave numerous pocket, good protection of the main zip, good cut and a wind resistant (and somewhat rain resistant) outer 60cotton/40polyamid cloth, with a light 100% polyamid cloth inside.

You must bring something larger than usual for real outdoor.

link (not available nowadays) : https://www.uniqlo.com/au/store/mountain-parka-1563770023.html

 

[marcoruhland]

for bushcraft/hunting it is possible to wear other clothing as for long distance trekking/hiking or extrem winter expeditions
it is necessary that the material is more fireressistant and for hunting very quite and in general strong and durable and not (ultra)lightweight
so i wear often (merino)wool/ loden or leather (boots, gloves, belt, etc.) and some (poly)/(wax)cotten/cordura for hard (wood)work
so here a small selection:
gamsbock bushcraft: pants / jacket - etaproof/ cordura
hedlund grenland-pro- jacket loden
petromax waldmack - parka loden
hubertus lopu - pullover loden
barbour-classic-northumbria parka waxcotton
fällräven no. series: smock-no-1, jacket-no-68, anorak-no-8 all polycotten but made in eu
arktis smock polycotton

only for extrem wet or cold weather i used 100% waterproof multiuse ploy ponchos from

jerven or helsport

 

[Corso]

I have been using a Helikon Tex Pilgrim Anorak Jacket almost exclusively over the last twelve or so months. It is utterly brilliant. Normally, I do not like the over-the-head kind of tops but the deep zipper and ventilation possibilities offered by this have exorcised that prejudice. The fabric, a textured poly-cotton with a little bit of stretch, is superb: very hard wearing and copes well with the spits and crackles from a fire. It is sized sensibly so that you don't feel as though you're wearing a giant's skin when you're just in a shirt underneath it but there is room for layers when it gets chillier. As with most poly-cotton stuff, you can improve the water resistance with Greenland wax or whatever is your chosen preparation. Best of all, it's a reasonable price, compared with some of the better known brands favoured by the bushcraft community. It may not be the insulated garment of choice as I reckon layering gives you a far more versatile set-up but I have been incredibly impressed with it so far and recommend it on the strength of that.

As ever, I've no association with Helikon Tex but I am one seriously impressed customer!

What size are you and what HT size did you gert? The sizings always been a bit off for me - picked up a fleece a while back and it was atleast 2 sizes too big

 

[Tiley]

What size are you and what HT size did you gert? The sizings always been a bit off for me - picked up a fleece a while back and it was atleast 2 sizes too big

I bought a Large, which fits me very well indeed, as I mentioned in my post. I am 6'1" tall and usually aim for things around the 42" to 44" chest size. I have quite long (gibbon-like?) arms, so sleeve length can be an issue with the more 'economy range' clothing brands but this one is spot on. I hope that this helps!

 

[MikeLA]

Buffalo SP 6 or my Belay are my go to coats I couldn’t do without. For warmth windproof and wetproof. Find others like fjallraven just too expensive for what they are

 

[Billy-o]

Does anyone know anythng about this jacket? https://forcesuniformandkit.co.uk/p...rproof-parka-army-surplus?variant=17608371777

It is listed as a French Militiary Parka ... do we know if there is another name for it?

 

[marcoruhland]

...Find others like fjallraven just too expensive for what they are..

if you pay rrp - yes! i try to get 50% or more discount and if you buy secondhand sometimes only 10% of rrp

mr

 

[Erbswurst]

Do you still own Swedisch made Fjälräven clothing?

The Fjälräven Karl trousers my brother owns started to fall in pieces after one year of regular use. In my opinion that's nowadays simply overpriced and overrated low quality stuff. Not better than Aldi outdoor clothing or even Primark trousers.

Yes, I own an approximately 30 years old Fjälräven rucksack that looks like new. But this was made in Sweden, not in Asia. And of course it wasn't made of polycotton jacket fabric like they sell them nowadays.

 

[marcoruhland]

Do you still own Swedisch made Fjälräven clothing?

yes but primarily not for my own because they produce only up to xxl sometimes 3xl (the only one is old no. 5 pullover made in sweden from english lambswool amazing! but xxl is here 6xl! made for the mountain - own both tamrac/ grey unfortunately 200€ ) - e.g. i buy koster-sweater (yes made in china!) for 50€ ! or - the whole bergtagen series (more trekking stuff) is also made in china (but for that) very good quality and if you have no need and enough time you find sometimes good deals - so i buy over the last three year almost the whole series e.g. insulation-parka (200€)+mummy foot(130€) this is a very good (survival/ emergency)sleeping system in combination with a jerven extreme up to -20°c, lite-insulation-jkt-w (160€)
the no. series is in general good quality (made in europe but yes too expensive) but this is no surplus so you can wear it every day
my last (expensive) fjällräven deals:
smock no. 1 (315€), no-68-w (235€ and 250€), no. 67 (out of production 150€), forest no-6 / no-3 set (out of production - very good amazon deal 100/ 285€), still a lot of money but this is all very good quality

mr

 

[Grallocher]

I have a chronic disposition of accumulating outdoor jackets over the last 30 years... But, my three go too's are

Swazi Thar XP
Fjallraven No8
Montane Extreme smock

All used throughout the year for stalking, fishing, camping, working my dogs

The No8 gets a coat of Granger's fabsil Gold once a year and out of them all, I find it the most versatile.

Underneath these is generally always a woolpower garment to suit temp and exertion levels

Expensive yes, but not in the long term in my experience.

I've repaired my old Singer 201k , so there are some DIY projects in the pipeline

 

[Billy-o]

Karl trousers

The Karl series are very definitely designed as lightweight comfortable summerwear. I have some and like them. But for robust shorts it has to be the Barents ... get a bunch in the sales. I usually pick up a pair every year, but they last and last Good pockets too

 

[MikeLA]

if you pay rrp - yes! i try to get 50% or more discount and if you buy secondhand sometimes only 10% of rrp

mr

Trouble is I’ve not seen 50% off in the uk if I did I would have bought also buy happy with the buffalo SP6

 

[marcoruhland]

buffalo sp6 is very rar and unknown in germany - what is the rrp £200? but here is a used one for £75 make an offer maybe £50 or less good luck

or here fr no. 67 gr. l - asking price 159€

in uk there are also some used clothing online platforms maybe there barbour wax cotton must be very cheap (or cheaper than here in germany )

£30 for used northumbria in c46 do not know but this is more than 80% off rrp? and not a bad deal for bushcraft jacket

bergtagen jacket w -37% in ger same site -43% and here you get often 10% extra discount

no 68 w sand l £190, no 8 w olive xl £235

search with skinflint for smock no. 1 an see cheapest price in 2020 you find £255 2020-06-22

smock no 1 l sand - asking price 330€


mr

 

[Urdasein]

my question is 'what the intermediate option. the middle weight in the equation' i'm thinking buffalo shirt kind of?

Hi.

You could try wearing a "mid layer" as a "third layer". Let me explain...

Loden is a german wool fabric wich is fireproof, totally breathable, silent, odorless, a little bit showerproof and wind proof (and traditionnal =)
I'ts great for hunting...

You can add a third layer over it for extra protection when it rains. For example, A coton poncho (polish, NVA or Hilltrek) is great IMHO. Or maybe an ultralight goretex layer, why not !

Regards.