Good gear is hard to find. If it works, stick with it.

by cas, Tuesday, November 27, 2012, 12:50 (4381 days ago)

I finally remembered to snap a photo of this last week, though I'm almost afraid to tell people because I don't want to jinx myself.

I have a great old pair of wool pants I wear hunting, been wearing them for years. I look a little odd in them, sort of "retro", but since half the time I'm hunting with an antique rifle anyway, they fit right in. ;-)

Somewhere back in the early 90's my father picked these pants up real cheap at an army surplus store in Newport RI. I've been wearing them ever since.

[image]

They're Swedish Army surplus, and that's about all I ever knew about them. I figured they were old but I never knew how old. Heck I've been wearing them for 20 years now.

Two hunting seasons ago I was looking them over good and found marking on the front of the pockets I never knew were there before.

[image]

Among them the date when they were made.

[image]

"OMG I'm wearing 70 year old pants!?" is what I said out loud.

Well now I'm wearing 72 year old pants. :-D

Good gear is hard to find. If it works, stick with it.

by cubrock, Tuesday, November 27, 2012, 12:58 (4381 days ago) @ cas

A buddy of mine has some of those. They were CHEAP when they were easy to find in the 90s. Wish I'd bought some. Haven't seen a pair since then.

I had another pair somewhere, or at least I did.

by cas, Tuesday, November 27, 2012, 13:45 (4381 days ago) @ cubrock

I couldn't wear them because they were a "tall". I'm 6'4" and wasn't "tall" enough for them, so it's no wonder they were in such good shape. lol :-D

I need to find them, maybe I can have them hemmed.

just use a couple of rubber bands and "Blouse" them

by esisk @, Thursday, November 29, 2012, 00:42 (4380 days ago) @ cas

.

Euro Surplus wool pants: best outdoor kit I have found.

by Rob Leahy ⌂ @, Prescott, Arizona, Tuesday, November 27, 2012, 17:19 (4381 days ago) @ cas

Also in the early 90s West Germany surplused out a ton of their field pants great gear I have mine still.

--
Of the Troops & For the Troops

Euro Surplus wool pants: best outdoor kit I have found.

by BobM, Ohio, Tuesday, November 27, 2012, 18:32 (4381 days ago) @ Rob Leahy

I got some in the early 90s also, don't recall if they're German or Swiss. They were great outdoor pants but unfortunately they've shrunk over the last 20+ years

I wear a W German sweater with those pants. :)

by cas, Tuesday, November 27, 2012, 18:55 (4381 days ago) @ BobM

The traditional "commando" style model. With that and those pants, I look like I'm ready to parachute into Normandy. :-D

Euro Surplus wool pants: best outdoor kit I have found.

by cubrock, Tuesday, November 27, 2012, 21:57 (4381 days ago) @ Rob Leahy

The 90s were the absolute heyday for surplus gear. I wish I'd realized that, but I was too busy with college, getting married, having our first child, and so on. I wish I could go back and buy up a lot of those surplus guns, ammo, and gear. Those days will never be seen again!

Oh I think most of us missed the real haydays of surplus

by Rob Leahy ⌂ @, Prescott, Arizona, Wednesday, November 28, 2012, 08:51 (4380 days ago) @ cubrock

gear...I just barely remember a couple warehouse's of GI surplus in the mid sixty's: barrel full of rifles, shelves full of boots and clothes...a whole row of barrels full of rank insignia: wood stave barrels full of one type of rank each... radios, helmets shovels all USGI stuff...my dad was looking for something speific and we traveled to a couple...

--
Of the Troops & For the Troops

Oh I think most of us missed the real haydays of surplus

by cubrock, Wednesday, November 28, 2012, 22:12 (4380 days ago) @ Rob Leahy

Agreed re: the US and western European stuff, but on a dollar per value basis, the 90s was the best the world has ever seen. The "good" stuff was cheaper on a dollar basis in the 50s and 60s, but a dollar was worth a whole lot more then. You can't beat Russian submariner watches for $5, night vision optics for next to nothing, wool pants for $5, etc. $18 M1 Carbines in 1962, when a lot of people were working for less than $2 an hour, doesn't compare. :)

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