Which shooting jacket??

FLOYDSTER

I need to order a new shooting jacket and wondered has anyone any recommendations??
At the moment I'm using a Thune but am considering, Sauer,Mouche,Kustermann or Monard??;)

It wasn't me!

I'm awaiting an Anschutz Stenvaag, which is very nice, with the Fusion one step above. Conor has the Thune Expert in a prone cut and has a lot of praise for it. The Kusterman is gaining a lot of followers all over the place these days. I'm using a club Thune while I wait for my own to come back and to be honest I'm not gone on it. Hard to go wrong with made-to-measure Thune or Anschutz I think, and the Kusterman ones are gaining a lot of ground too, so you're probably safe with any of them.

Sparks

I'm not the greatest fan of Thune to be honest; his stuff almost always walks up to the line with respect to ISSF rules, and often goes a bit past it, leaving you to do a fair bit of work to get the kit past equipment control.
I thought mouche's jackets were quite good last time I looked at them (and their measurement rig is pretty good too).
AHG's aren't anything to write home about by comparison at the low end, but the new fusion jacket doesn't look too bad for the money.


(but I'm looking at them from a standing point of view; your milage may vary )

It wasn't me!

Graham Rudd had some very flattering things to say about the Fusion, so can't be too shabby. I know my Stenvaag was a beautiful bit of kit while I had it here. (Still waiting for it to come back )

You should be looking at it from a 3P point of view Sparks.

Sparks

I dunno - the Stenvaag I have isn't too bad, but to be honest, they don't last as long as some of the "bigger names" - the club's Thunes are in better shape than my Stenvaag, for example (allowing for the amount of use they get). But then, Stenvaag's are cheaper, so you don't feel so bad about throwing them out donating them to the club and getting new ones every few years

It wasn't me!

Sparks wrote: »

I dunno - the Stenvaag I have isn't too bad, but to be honest, they don't last as long as some of the "bigger names" - the club's Thunes are in better shape than my Stenvaag, for example (allowing for the amount of use they get). But then, Stenvaag's are cheaper, so you don't feel so bad about throwing them out donating them to the club and getting new ones every few years

I just need to get a few years out of my Stenvaag and then I'll look at a serious made-to-measure job. The Kusterman ones seem good and solid, certainly their gloves are a damn sight better than the Anschutz ones.

Sparks

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the AHG gloves. I have one, and one KT glove, and I stopped using the AGH one pretty much the day I got the AHG. I would want to get a KT solid for prone though, I have the soft fingerless one which is great for air but not so good in prone.

It wasn't me!

Sparks wrote: »

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the AHG gloves. I have one, and one KT glove, and I stopped using the AGH one pretty much the day I got the AHG. I would want to get a KT solid for prone though, I have the soft fingerless one which is great for air but not so good in prone.

I was looking at the Thune ones and they don't seem to offer the wrist support I'd be looking for, but I'm open to correction there. The Kusterman ones offer loads of protection, which means more shooting for less pain.

BountyHunter

I'm using an off the rack Gehmann, doesnt really fit well to be honest but I didnt know any better when I bought it, I had a look at IRLConor's Thune and ordered one late last year, still waiting for delivery...long sigh....

It wasn't me! wrote: »

I was looking at the Thune ones and they don't seem to offer the wrist support I'd be looking for, but I'm open to correction there. The Kusterman ones offer loads of protection, which means more shooting for less pain.

I have a full finger solid Thune glove you can try if you like, its a medium or large,can't remember..

BountyHunter.

Sparks

BountyHunter wrote: »

I had a look at IRLConor's Thune and ordered one late last year, still waiting for delivery...long sigh....

Yeah, that's the other thing I don't like about KT's stuff. :mad:

FLOYDSTER

One of the guys on Saturday was using the AHG and it looked great!,
slightly swayed towards the Sauer Advantage extra!;)

I have a few measuring charts here from several suppliers so we'll see!!:D
Who makes jackets for the "fuller figure"!!:)

Sparks

It's not a "fuller figure", you're just optimised for stability in the prone position.













And eating pies

FLOYDSTER

Sparks wrote: »

It's not a "fuller figure", you're just optimised for stability in the prone position.

And eating pies

Cheeky fecker!!, lol:D, I really do need to get back to standing and wobbling too though!!;)

It wasn't me!

Anschutz have a *cough* "stocky" size chart, for those of more generous build. I'll have to shed the "stocky" characteristic to shoot 3P next year though.

IRLConor

I love my Kurt Thune jacket, now that it has softened out enough to get into without the aid of a chiropractor and a tire iron.

It'll be a bit of a challenge to beat it into ISSF legal territory, but it fits*, it's comfortable and it has very few wrinkles in the wrong places when I'm in position.

* Er, yes, I know it's a bit tight at the moment, but I'll stop eating crap soon. Honest.

sbw

Thune still seems to lead the way on the firing point at the big matches, although you'll see plenty of other manufacturers. The more established manufacturers (Thune, Mouche/Kusterman, AHG to a degree) have two principal advantages. The first is that they've had plenty of time over the years to learn to tailor their gear well. They don't always get it right and you hear plenty of horror stories, but when they do get it right, they're head and shoulders above the rest. The second advantage is that their gear lasts. It may be pricier, but you get what you pay for and if you go for a tailored, high end jacket from a good manufacturer it can give you perfect support for a decade.

Sparks is right that you spend your first year living in fear of equipment control, but everyone else's gear goes right up to the limits and you'd be at competitive disadvantage if yours didn't. At they end of the day, all kit can be made to pass EC with a bit of patience.

I've been using Thune for years and I'd happily buy from them again when I replace it, but I'd also look at Mouch/Kusterman and AHG. I'd probably steer clear of Hi-tek, Marksman House and Truttman, though, as their tailoring tends to be poorer. The jury's still out on Mondard.

Gloves are an interesting one. The AHG gloves don't look as well made as the Thune and Kusterman gloves, but gloves are part of your kit that should be replaced each year, anyway, before the padding starts to offer you less protection. AHG gloves may not last as well as Thune or Kusterman, but this can largely be obviated by replacing them annually.

Sparks

Marksman House

Steer well clear. They're the reason that Equipment Control rules went nuts after Athens, and showing up in their kit could well see you getting a bit more scrutiny than most.

Mellor

Excuse my ignorance lads, but what exactly is the theory behind these jackets and gloves.
I'm not involved in target shooting, but since Sparks and Conor have taken to posting mechano rifles over on the general forum, i'm more and more interested.

Sparks

Support from the jackets, both for the lower spine in standing and across the shoulders for prone via the sling which attaches to the jacket; and padding from the gloves for the hands to protext the wrist or knuckles. You're shooting 40, 60 or 120 shots in a match so you need protection from chronic injuries. I'm usually the example I give of what happens if you don't - I have permanent nerve damage to a nerve from a bad position (which a bad jacket allowed) so there's a patch of my leg that's always numb; and I nearly had the same thing happen to my middle finger on my left hand from a glove that was too thin - the rifle was compressing the nerve channel on the inside of the finger.

The jackets and gloves have to conform to fairly extensive rules regarding thickness, stiffness, overall design, fit and so on; in larger matches we check those at the start of the match (that's the equipment control we were talking about above).

Mellor

Thanks sparks, i'd like to get into target shooting, but for the mean time I imagine its going to be just running a couple of hundred rounds down range, not quite ready for to start blaming my jacket, or lack there of, for my poor groups

It wasn't me!

Mellor wrote: »

Thanks sparks, i'd like to get into target shooting, but for the mean time I imagine its going to be just running a couple of hundred rounds down range, not quite ready for to start blaming my jacket, or lack there of, for my poor groups

Well if you're interested in getting into our side of things, there may be a cheap answer in the short term, with investment from you only necessary if you're still interested after you've tried it. PM me if that interests you.