Fieldcraft my first ghillie suits__please critique

[ice-marine]

ok i recently made 2 ghillie suits for me and my brother well we made them anyway .i started with some basic overalls and found them not the right color .

so i bought my self some nomex flight suits from the us airforce i was told and they where the color i was looking for .

ok so i started attaching the neting to the overalls and decided to make the hat a and suit a 1 piece thing .but that didn do it for me after some testing and it was just not practical for me as i needed to take the hat and use it over my scope .

the enviorment i work in is alot mossy and had alot of green and tan not that much on the brown side ..

please let me know what i need to fix and what to do better ...

this is the first suit before mudbath

and after mudbath

and 2 shots in the first field test just a quick test as we where out of light

ok and on to suit number 2 .i know the photos arent the best but they will have to do until i get my camera up and working

front of the suit not yet patched up

and the back

then i started on the hat

and this is the full suit before mud bath

and please comment the sh** out of it

 

[_Shay_]

Re: my first ghillie suits__please critique

Looks good. I'd take off a large amount of the burlap. You need room for veg. I'd add thumb loops to the cuffs of the arms, if you haven't already. Looks like a good start though.
Make sure you reinforce the front.

 

[ice-marine]

Re: my first ghillie suits__please critique

i will take out some burlap but i wont do it until after the mud baths since it will shed alot of burlap there

 

[ss10ring]

Re: my first ghillie suits__please critique

A lot of guys who use the AF flight suits build them inside out so there is less to snag while you're on your belly. Also heavy canvas "shoegoo'd" to the front with help to keep it from wearing out too fast

 

[spts05]

Re: my first ghillie suits__please critique

looks good, like said before, take out 30 percent of the burlap and do it after the bath to see how much you loose first. make sure since it is a one piece and harder to get out of that it is fire retardant. there are some sprays you can get to treat it. depending on if you are bow hunting or not add some lenght to the front of your veil to cover scope. you can also use sheer material for this as to see through a little better, make sure it doesn't shine. great job so far. when you reinforce front cut out zippers for comfort.

 

[vladimir]

Re: my first ghillie suits__please critique

great suit man

 

[STA_VIOLENT]

Re: my first ghillie suits__please critique

Alright you want an honest opinion from someone who has actually operated in one. For starters it looks decent but your missing alot of shit.

1. Where are your vege ties? Any decent sniper who has attended any type of formal military school will tell you vege is the fuckin edge.

2. Dont rely on heavy amounts of jute all it does is slow you down and increase your overall size. One swim in the pig pond would have helped you figure that out. Also too much dark jute, you can always make a ghili darker while in the field, pretty tough to make it liter.

3. Where are your skid plates?(heavy duty canvas sewn or shoe-gooe'd to your chest, forearms, thighs and kneecaps.

4. Vents? a good ghili will have at least i mean bare minimum
3 vents, one on your back and two under your arms. Make them my cutting holes in your suit and sewing spider mesh over the holes. Helps out alot.

You wanna make sure you can be mobile in your ghili. If you think it is up to snuff, put it on and go for a 3 mile run in it while carrying your rifle.

 

[doc76251]

Re: my first ghillie suits__please critique

I'd say crawl around in that for a while and you will figure out pretty doggone quick why ghillies are made in two pieces.

Cheers,

Doc

 

[SaepeExertus]

Re: my first ghillie suits__please critique

It looks like a good start but you def need to add some reinforcement before you start crawling around. Get an old canvas sea bag and make sure you cover the full legs and crotch area since its a one piece. Also as mentioned take about half that jute and burlap off. once it starts getting used and muddy all that it will become is big clumps of obviously man made material. Veg is the edge.

 

[EBM]

Re: my first ghillie suits__please critique

Really interesting to hear the experts weigh in here. Good thread.

 

[SaepeExertus]

Re: my first ghillie suits__please critique

To give you an idea of how much burlap you need. On mine I only have a few strands of jute every 6 inches or so. Not to insult your intelligence but do you understand why burlap/jute is added to a ghillie? It's not for concealment its for tieing in vegetation. I know many a sniper that have been busted because of excess jute on there ghillie.

 

[ajwcotton]

Re: my first ghillie suits__please critique

Personally I find very little use for pants in gereral, I've never been busted because someone saw my pants. Also true about the burlap/jute sometimes less is more, the ghillie is not supposed to be invisible by its self. It is critical that you have natural veg on your suit. I use the brown elastic ponytail holders my wife gets frim walmart and girth hitch them all over the netting so I can grab a handfull of veg and just stuff in into the band. I also keep a pocket full of them on my suit it is the fastest and simplest way to veg your suit up.
Adam

 

[Seth8541]

Re: my first ghillie suits__please critique

1. Should have made it in 2 pieces for numerous reasons. #1. Coveralls are way too freaking hot. #2. Vegatation dies therefore during a stalk you may need to re-veg your suit. Your coveralls will require you to damn near strip naked everytime you do your veg. #3. When you get into your shooting position and possibly shooting off your tripod or shooting sticks from the.sitting, or kneeling there will be a shadow created from your tripod and your body in a triangular shape. If you had a 2 part ghillie you could remove the blouse, veg it up and use it to cover the front of your tripod therefore aiding in your camoflage and eliminating the shadow.

2. Cut out a 1' x 18" hole in the back of coveralls and replace it with a piece of laundry bag. Do the same in the top of the boonie hat for ventilation.

3. I don't and have never cared for the hood. It creates too much shadow on your face and doesn't hold the veg upright like a boonie hat.

4. You don't want long burlap in front of your face. The first time you get out on a stalk and all that crap is in your face you'll have the scissors out trimming it. Common mistake. Make sure that when you do decide to go with the boonie hat that you cut the brim of it off above your face. This will help get rid of the shadow on your face.

5. You don't want to be dragging burlap on the ground behind you. Trim it about 2" above your heel.

6. Your gonna need some elastic loops for your hand to keep the arms on your ghillie from hiking up on you when your low crawling.

7. I never had ties sewn into my ghillie. I just used the burlap to tie in veg. Burlaps only purpose is NOT to tie veg. It's to break up outline, AND to tie veg. Without veg you just look like a mound of burlap. The main outline you are trying to break up is the outline of your head and shoulders. That is the highest point of your body sduring a stalk asnd 99% sof ther time the area that a trained observer will see. That is where the burlap is the heaviest. I used burlap and some hemp rope or jute. The jute is to break up the texture of all the burlap. Being that it is stiffer and courser that burlap it works itself into the burlap and helps it stand up. Therefore breaking up any pattern. Remeber.........................................................
<span style="font-weight: bold">NATURAL VEG GIVES YOU THE EDGE!!</span>

8. You also don't want the burlap extending down past your elbows, or you will be fighting it when you are crawling around. Kinda like stepping on your shoelaces constantly.

9. I always liked to have a pocket sewn onto the forearms of my suit to hold small items, ie camo paint, compass, snips etc.

10. When you reinforce the front make sure you shoe Goo it in completely then sew it, then shoe Goo the stiches. If you don't shoe Goo it entirely to your suit, when you crawl around on it it will rub back and forth and you will wear holes in it quickly.

Just a few points that I have found out while out on a stalk wearing mine. These type of ghillies are great for training and sniper school. They are meant to take a lot of abuse and hang together, but HIGHLY impractical for real world ops. You cannot wear your deuce gear, and highly restricts the gear you can carry. Real world I wouldn't use the pants at all, and would use a loose fitting top that could be worn over my gear. There is a link I will post to the type of ghillie I feel is the most practical for operational use. The ghillies you see the military use are built the way they need to be to hold together in school. You are crawling around on your belly as much as a student does in sniper school you need a ghillie that is over engineered. Hope that helps. Good luck.

Seth

Check these out. This is in my opinion hugely more practical.

http://www.tacticalconcealment.com/mobile/cat-cobra-series.cfm

 

[shark0311]

Re: my first ghillie suits__please critique

Here is the original Cobra in Iraq. Too much jute and not enough veg. We were 300 yards off of the road with a ton of defilade and concealment. We did wind up taking friendly fire from this hide. A convoy came through with an Apache escort. We deployed a vs-17 panel and strobes. No radio comms with the convoy (Army). The helo's flew over us a few times then the convoy proceeded to stop and open fire in our general direction. We called out, popped smoke and they ceased fire and drove the fuck off. They couldn't see us from the road.

It turned out to be a BN commanders convoy and he was relieved following the incident.

 

[Stuffed]

Re: my first ghillie suits__please critique

You want to make your hide site do most of the work. When we ran green side hides, we would usually bring just a ghillie hat or cape. Ghillies are ridiculously hot, and you can't get get to any kit. You really dont want to get into a position where your so exposed, that you have to rely on a full ghillie to hide.

 

[2/1_Kiwi]

Re: my first ghillie suits__please critique

Really is best to add your crawl pads/skids before adding your scrim and burlap. Thats including any other sewing and add ons. Remember, your going to be in it for a while (depending on what your using this for) so a few features that increase comfort dont go amiss.

Too much burlap but a lot of that will come off during your first wash. As has been mentioned you want to easily be able to add natural veg, so some netting exposed doesnt mean your naked.

Post some pics post mud bath mate, will be interesting to see how it holds up.