best ghille suit
- Thread starter ctso030
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Rancho Safari, Tactical Concealment, or totally DIY are the 3 options to consider based on my experiences.
avoid Tactical Concealment....they never shipped my order, and they refuse to answer phone calls or emails, and from what ive been hearing, the same thing happened to a bunch of other people as well.
im currently running the VooDoo Sniper Tog.......it works ok......not a fan of the bungee system they use on it, would rather netting.....but for the cost you cant complain.
im currently running the VooDoo Sniper Tog.......it works ok......not a fan of the bungee system they use on it, would rather netting.....but for the cost you cant complain.
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That is too bad about Tactical Concealment. Think someone who lives in Tempe should go knock on the door. They always offered some cool products. Last time I ordered anything was a few years ago. Got a bunch of special order products for DIY in a few days.
Think if someone has the patience to do it yourself those are always best and will match your area best.
Think if someone has the patience to do it yourself those are always best and will match your area best.
Build your own. Youll have a greater appreciation for it, and it will cost much less. Otherwise, go through US Tactical Supply or Triad Tactical for Tactical Concealment gear.
B
boomer81
Guest
I have a few things I do. I take two of the so called sniper veil nets. One green one fde. zip tie em together likes it's a cape. take rubber bands and veg up accordingly. That's for hot weather. Right now I'm working on a light carhart canyon coat that's a 2xt size so it's long that's gonna be able to wear anywhere and look like a normal person. and reverse into a Ghillie. Almost like the German trench. I like making stuff. A good light base the the ability to add natural vegetation
most people just get a set of BDUs and some netting......sew or glue the netting to the BDUs.....
if you are going to be out in the heat, its a good idea to cut the back out of the BDU jacket and replace it with mesh.......and if you are going to be doing a lot of belly crawling, adding patches of canvas over the belly and elbows are also helpful.
also when it comes to jute/ burlap......less is more........you really only want enough for a base layer......you dont want to look like a bush......you should be 75%+ natural vegitation
depending on where you are, and what youre hunting, a full suit is often unnecessary.......im thinking about getting a BDU top and making a "crop top" and chopping the sleeves off at the elbow........just enough to cover the upper torso and shoulders.....
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Go through US Tactical Supply and get jute I would just get natural keep it light, and use vegetation as the main camouflage. Use 1"- 1.5" netting sewn on to a desert camouflage utility uniform, multicam should be the darkest you go as the base layer. Sew the netting on to the base about every 2"-3" over the knots. Then use shoe goo over the sew points to reinforce, lightly sand the shoe goo once it dires for a base to spray paint it so its not shiny. You probably dont need a skid pad on the stomach, but I would atleast reinforce and add pads to the knees and elbows. Once that is done, cut the jute into 6"-8" and tie 3-5 strands on every horizontal line on the netting, then tie 8"-10" of gutted 550 cord to every vertical line, to tie vegetation to.
ETA: Just to add on to what mcameron said, the Tactical Concealment Cobra or Viper might be the cheapest and most practical ghillie you can buy. This way you can easily throw it on and off, and it covers the 4 of the 5 V's and most exposed portions on the human body.
ETA: Just to add on to what mcameron said, the Tactical Concealment Cobra or Viper might be the cheapest and most practical ghillie you can buy. This way you can easily throw it on and off, and it covers the 4 of the 5 V's and most exposed portions on the human body.
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Go to your local fabric store and buy some burlap and Ritz dyes. Or order some old coffee sacks from Sportsmans Guide. Get jute twine from the hardware store. Take a few pics of your hunting area during the season you hunt. Dye material accordingly, Google some DYI instructions (there's a ton of them), and go to town!
Honestly, you will really need to only focus on your hat/head, and torso/shoulders down to your midsection at most.
The full blown ghille suit is an old 'myth' to an extent. Those of us that went through school were required to make our own and utilize them in a stalk (and sometimes during live fire at the range when you did something to piss the instructor off) but other than that, they are for the movies and Call of Duty.
Basically everyone gets the exact same things wrong from the start and builds the suit the ends up looking like exactly what it is - a guy in a fucking blob of a ghille suit. This is due to the idea that you need to cover every last inch with burlap or jute or whatever as well as forgetting that the terrain you are in today, may change from what you'll be in next time and you now basically will contrast with your environment.
Outside of that, they take up a lot of room, when wet they weigh a ton, they generally stink, every little branch/bush/tree/stick will grab onto them and you will die of a heat stroke in one in hot weather and they don't make you invisible. Oh, and they catch on fire.
I hate sewing. I hate stitching. So unless you have exquisite tailoring skills, I'd look into a 'BYO suit' that will get you what you need with minimal additions on your part. The only ones I've ever considered are made ontop of your basic BDU trousers/blouse and use the basic sunhat. This allows you to get your base materials attached (think 70/30, with 30 being jute/burlap and 70 being natural vegetation of your current surroundings), give it a mud bath a few times, fray the base materials and then add natural vegetation when you get to your location.
The only updates I'd make, is to take the trousers/blouse to a local sew shop after you've figured out where you want venting cut and sewn in as well as thumb loop for your hands, and stirrups for your feet put in.
Actually here's one that looks like its still a BYO but more complete: http://www.milestactical.com/byo-gsj.html
The full blown ghille suit is an old 'myth' to an extent. Those of us that went through school were required to make our own and utilize them in a stalk (and sometimes during live fire at the range when you did something to piss the instructor off) but other than that, they are for the movies and Call of Duty.
Basically everyone gets the exact same things wrong from the start and builds the suit the ends up looking like exactly what it is - a guy in a fucking blob of a ghille suit. This is due to the idea that you need to cover every last inch with burlap or jute or whatever as well as forgetting that the terrain you are in today, may change from what you'll be in next time and you now basically will contrast with your environment.
Outside of that, they take up a lot of room, when wet they weigh a ton, they generally stink, every little branch/bush/tree/stick will grab onto them and you will die of a heat stroke in one in hot weather and they don't make you invisible. Oh, and they catch on fire.
I hate sewing. I hate stitching. So unless you have exquisite tailoring skills, I'd look into a 'BYO suit' that will get you what you need with minimal additions on your part. The only ones I've ever considered are made ontop of your basic BDU trousers/blouse and use the basic sunhat. This allows you to get your base materials attached (think 70/30, with 30 being jute/burlap and 70 being natural vegetation of your current surroundings), give it a mud bath a few times, fray the base materials and then add natural vegetation when you get to your location.
The only updates I'd make, is to take the trousers/blouse to a local sew shop after you've figured out where you want venting cut and sewn in as well as thumb loop for your hands, and stirrups for your feet put in.
Actually here's one that looks like its still a BYO but more complete: http://www.milestactical.com/byo-gsj.html
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this is about how much jute i run on my ghillies......this is my newest suit i just put together, still need to break it in.
i use them mainly for duck hunting, so i dont need to be "invisible" .....just need to break up my outline a bit.
i use them mainly for duck hunting, so i dont need to be "invisible" .....just need to break up my outline a bit.
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Well I've needed an excuse to finally get the top half of a suit, and long distance daytime coyote hunting for $55 a head, well, why not. So I blame all of you for having me now buying the boonie veil and blouse to build a suit.
That thing needs a hosing down, some dirt and someone fucking it up with a wire brush
That thing needs a hosing down, some dirt and someone fucking it up with a wire brush
haha yeah im working on it.....slowly getting rid of the "pasta man" look......thanks for the wire brush tip, saved me a lot of time shredding the jute.
I ordered a boonie with the netting attached because that's as far as I'd let anyone go. Ordered the synthetic jute thread or whatever it is to see if there is a positive difference or if I need to revert to ripping burlap swatches from the fabric store apart.
I'll start with the sunhat and see where I want to go. I may get the BYO BDU top since it has the snail skid already sewn in on the front and forearms, plus I wear a BDU top when hunting anyways out here in the desert, so what the hell. The fact that they had original gangster DCU pattern is what threw me off the fence.
Smell is important for hunting. You are going to want to season the suit, try to get natural earth smell to it.
If you do go the route of making your own, definitely spend a lot of your time on the veil. And if you're making your own, focus the jute/vegetation on the 5 V's (crotch, both armpits, right and left neck to shoulder transition) to help break up your outline. And add some 550 cord sewed into the ghillie to tie veg in. It works better than jute and is way easier to untie.
Working on it. I have half the veil done and it looks good but is possibly borderline too much material. Once I get it done I was going to throw it in the sand/dirt out here, bury it, get it wet, more sand/dirt to give it the reddish/orange color the desert has out here and possibly thin it since it'll get wet and the fiber wont be as fluffy.
The other trick is, with a desert like southern Utah and Arizona, there are a lot of areas where there is sparse natural veg, so relying on it may actually make you stick out, so adding a bit extra to try and blend with basically rocks and sand may be more beneficial to me in that terrain as opposed to the abundance of natural veg in grass/woodland areas.
My veil is currently caked in dirt and mud, hanging around outside overnight.
I already have some PROS and CONS to the synthetic material from the time I spent attaching it to the veil, roughing it up and putting it in a 5 gallon bucket with 50% local sand/dirt that best matches the environment here and 50% water.
I went with the BYO sunhat with the mesh cutout and sewn on netting. Bought 1 bundle of tan synthetic and 1 bundle of brown synthetic.
PROs
- Synthetic material was already the size of what you'd spend hours soaking your jute/burlap and fucking it up with a metal wire brush to get
- Synthetic has absolutely ZERO scent. No manufactured smell, absolutely nothing.
- Material is much lighter than burlap/jute
- Absorbs water but dries very quickly
- I haven't caught on fire yet. YET.
CONs
- The jury is still out but from how thin it is, you may need to initial put more on your veil/suit until you can thin it out with a mud bath later than you would with burlap
- Apparently the material doesn't absorb things easily; this can be good or bad. Problem I had was after the initial hosing down and tossing in dirt, it got muddy and as soon as I hit it with the hose it was like someone pressure washed the dirt off.
- The amount of material you need initially does make it look like a ghille monster; but with the fabric strands being so thin you eventually thin the whole thing out with a mud bath. So if you're being overly conservative like you would be with jute/burlap, you're basically going to have a totally thinned out veil at that point.
- Will take multiple mud baths for the 'color' to take.
I already have some PROS and CONS to the synthetic material from the time I spent attaching it to the veil, roughing it up and putting it in a 5 gallon bucket with 50% local sand/dirt that best matches the environment here and 50% water.
I went with the BYO sunhat with the mesh cutout and sewn on netting. Bought 1 bundle of tan synthetic and 1 bundle of brown synthetic.
PROs
- Synthetic material was already the size of what you'd spend hours soaking your jute/burlap and fucking it up with a metal wire brush to get
- Synthetic has absolutely ZERO scent. No manufactured smell, absolutely nothing.
- Material is much lighter than burlap/jute
- Absorbs water but dries very quickly
- I haven't caught on fire yet. YET.
CONs
- The jury is still out but from how thin it is, you may need to initial put more on your veil/suit until you can thin it out with a mud bath later than you would with burlap
- Apparently the material doesn't absorb things easily; this can be good or bad. Problem I had was after the initial hosing down and tossing in dirt, it got muddy and as soon as I hit it with the hose it was like someone pressure washed the dirt off.
- The amount of material you need initially does make it look like a ghille monster; but with the fabric strands being so thin you eventually thin the whole thing out with a mud bath. So if you're being overly conservative like you would be with jute/burlap, you're basically going to have a totally thinned out veil at that point.
- Will take multiple mud baths for the 'color' to take.
