#milsurps

[pyrousred]

THE LATEST ADDITION TO MY COLLECTION...

...the M40 gas mask! I bid sniped this one off of shopgoodwill, hell of a find for a hell of a price.

For those who don't know, this mask was the US gas mask from the 80s until it was replaced by the M50 in the early 00s.

One unique feature, which you can see in the first image below, is its 'second skin.' Long story short, the base material of the facepiece (green) is made of silicone rubber - which is good at a lot of things, but not so good at resisting blister agents. So to keep the mask from being damaged by certain chemicals the wearer may encounter, a butyl rubber second skin (black) is fixed over the mask.

I intend to remove the second skin at some point, as well as take off the lens outserts and reconfigure which side the filter connects to. I'll probably change it all back to normal afterwards, I just want the experience.

[sl4vght3rh0vs3]

[boltvolta]

A (non)comprehensive evolution of the US Army field jacket, from 1945-2007. These are all original specimens, with or without optional items, and thus is incomplete before 1945, because using reproductions is never 1:1 and is cheating. (Unless its SMWholesale.)

1943-1953: M1943 Field Jacket, Civil Defense.

Pictured here is a Civil Defense variant, which outlived its military counterpart in service life. (This one is here because I haven't gotten around to focusing my autism on collecting them yet.)

1950-1953: M1950 Field Jacket.

An update to the M1943 with interior buttons for liners, a swing-out arm gusset and other improvements, mostly for making it more presentable for dress uniform. The M1950 makes its debut in Korea, is found wanting for actual combat, and within a year is superseded.

1951-1970s: Early M1951 Field Jacket.

A more field use oriented jacket, the M1951 introduces a zipper and snaps to the field jacket, while still retaining button in liners. The M51 survives Korea and enters Vietnam. Later production M51s can be discerned by white labels and green buttons, whereas early M51s have an ink stamp and brown, WW2 production buttons.

1965-1990's Early/Vietnam Era and Post-War OD M1965 Field Jackets.

The M65 iterates further on the field jacket, while adding additional features and simplifying manufacturing. most notably a stowable built-in wind hood and velcro wrist cuffs with stowed flaps to extend over gloves. The early Vietnam era M65s are distinguished by having 2 white cotton inkstamped labels, one on the neck, and one behind the right lower pocket, alongside aluminium zippers like the M51. Post-1973 M65s have brass zippers and either still retain the 2 labels, or have a single, larger label at the neck. (The Vietnam Era one here was acquired in Vietnam and was used in the war, and was repaired numerous times by many people until it found its way to me.)

1981-2008: Early and Late Woodland pattern M1965 Field Jackets.

The only significant difference on the early woodland M65 from its predecessors is its change to camouflage, entering service with the BDU in 1981, but served alongside the OD M65 all throughout the 80s and 90's, never fully replacing it. Early and Late Woodland M65s can be differentiated by a change from brass Talon zippers to green coated YKK zippers, and from white letterpressed or inkstamped labels to green letterpresses labels. (There is also the change of using woodland fabric to OD fabric in the hip pockets but that varies by manufacturer.)

1989-2008: 3 Color Desert M1965 Field Jacket.

A contract of 3CD M65s were made in 1989 for potential actions in desert areas around the globe, made to the same cut as the Late Woodland M65s with tan coated YKK zippers. Few made it in time to be issued in Desert Storm, among with the DCU, but saw more extensive issue in the rest of the 90s, and in Desert Shield, Iraq and Afghanistan. Another batch was made in Contract Year 2003, and changed the cut to the final iteration of the M65, without shoulder or nametape velcro. (I am too lazy to photograph this one right now.)

2004-2008: Universal Camouflage Pattern M65.

The last breath of the M65 in service to the US. By the time it was issued it was no longer competitive with other cold weather clothing systems, and many commands did not authorize them for dress uniform. Other parts of the M65 system were made in UCP, but befell the same fate. Velcro for shoulder patches and nametapes were added, and liners in the same color were even made for them. Only a single contact year was ever ordered, and by 2008 the M65 was phased out of service. Maybe, someone high up might get nostalgic, and order new ones to be made in the current camouflage for dress uniform, but if ever that happens, the story ends here.

[unnonexistence]

it's true that hermann's clothing aesthetic is mostly something along the lines of "dorky professor," but i think it's really more like 80% dorky professor, 20% military surplus. (that 20% is probably all ppdc gear, but the Aesthetic™ of the ppdc gear is milsurp).

like, hermann's a practical guy. he cares more about the function of his clothes than the appearance (see: glasses cord, oversized parka). he's also been working for the ppdc since he was in his mid-20s. you can't tell me he doesn't own, like, fleece quarter-zip tops in neutral colours and too-big "one size fits all" sweatpants with "P.P.D.C." stamped on the side.

[ndylaurent]

old patches

[selfmaderibcageman]

new boots ^

[3liza]

бирючина товариш

[jadedpiper]

average going out fit

[tyrianwanderings]

Patina

[primordialll]

genuine surplus gas mask (probably filled with asbestos, do not try at home)

[anarchoanimatronic]

hate the us military but the surplus cold weather trousers i found at an antique store today look cool as hell

[that-dinopunk-guy]

It's been a while since I bought any milsurp, so when I saw an ad with these cool-looking British patrol packs I thought what the hell. Mine just showed up today, and sure enough it is pretty cool. It looks neat, it has room for stuff, and it has little straps on the outside for attaching more stuff.

But it also came with free goodies inside!

I also got an opened packet of napkins, a pack of gum, these little...flag marker things, and a fossilized rubber band that I did not bother including in the picture.

[9x19-balaclava]

Save money or..buy a rifle dated back to WW2🤔

[boltvolta]

Too big for her.

British Mk. 1 flak jacket. Famously used during The Troubles alongside American M52 and 3/4 flak jackets. DoM: 1970. Part of a larger ensemble to follow. If you don't mind lugging 13 lbs of kevlar around for the day, questionably fashionable if worn right (Lord knows how.)

[pattern-recognition]

I was thinking about getting something from varusteleka :( whats a better place to get military surplus?

90% of my acquisitions have been things i’ve found irl, exclusively in antique stores or vintage shops because even if you can find a brick and mortar surplus store it’s simply not worth your time. Football season is over; it’s not that surplus is drying up like you hear people say, the wells have been empty for years now. Places like Varusteleka, American Pipedream, and Kommando Store still receive the odd shipment of miscellanea now and again, but warehouses full of the articles that are most prototypical of what people want from milsurp (N-1 deck jackets, M43s, M65s, fishtail parkas, strichtarn coats, bomber jackets, etc) are an anachronism in the 21st century. You can see it written all over the marketing of the popular milsurp retailers; it’s not possible to keep a business afloat with used tableware from the Italian Airforce or a random smattering of SADF web gear, so they’ve pivoted to structuring their brands around niche internet demographics that they can outsource new-production commodities to cater towards. It can’t feasibly be just about the militaria anymore, so they have to build up a recognizable brand around themselves hence all the shop specific t-shirts and paraphernalia. The new wave is far flung from the ad-hoc bargain basement nature of Army Navy stores of yore. Like with everything post the rise of e-consumerism the market has been rationalized, the prices standardized, and everyone is a collector now. To actually answer your question though, I recommend just getting an idea of what you want and then getting it from ebay or an equivalent, or finding a dedicated curated vintage shop nearby. The prices won’t be dirt cheap, but I think it’s more worthwhile to just get a quality garment where you know you can find it instead of wasting an indeterminate amount of time in vain trying to salvage from thrift stores.

[cameron-carpet-lola]

Colt police positive in 38 S&W, very nice shooting