Camouflage and the shooting sports

[John MH]

Sorry but its utter PC bolloxes to try to dictate what people may wear whilst partaking in their perfectly legal hobby.

What certainly is utter bollox is to claim "I only wear mil surplus 'cos its cheap"
whilst de-bagging a £5k AW with a £2k S&B scope from a £500 'tacticool sniper' AIM drag bag.

So next time I'm dressed as the Taliban on Century - I expect your full support :lol:

Actually, my rifle, scope and car combo cost a lot more than that. I don't wear British DPM cammo when shooting as a civilian as I get plenty of opportunity to wear it when shooting at work. I do however have a pair of excellent USMC Gore-tex Desert Digital waterproof trousers and a very nice USN NWU Digital Gore-tex waterproof jacket, that are far better than the British Issue DPM VPM tat, that I wear when lying in the wet mud shooting at Bisley as a civilian. I don't mind civilians wearing surplus kit as long as they aren't badged up.

[ovenpaa]

I have a pair of desert Marpat trousers, a similar pattern Gore-Tex ECWS jacket (I got mine when they were under thirty quid) plus a pair of USAF Belleville boots. I never wear them together, and these days the Marpat's never see the light of day despite being great trousers. I stopped wearing them after getting odd looks whilst shooting in DK. These days it is a mostly a pair of green Deerhunter trousers which are warm and waterproof and the boots if I am out shooting.

The Viking has a surplus German Gore-Tex jacket that leaked last time she wore it, I think it was either Duffeyeddoyle or KennyC that remarked that was why they are called suplus :lol: :lol:

I had a chat with an airsofter once, he had a genuine USO 'scope and rings nailed to his rifle and the latest Blackhawk and TAB gear, he certainly spent more on his kit that I do. Also he could see no attraction in 'proper' long range shooting.

[Porcupine]

PC nonsense. Whether camo is a good choice practically speaking is neither here nor there - what harm is it doing? The insinuation I think is that wearing camo means you are a wannabe soldier. Firstly, that's obviously not necessarily the case any more than wearing a North Face jacket makes you a wannabe mountain climber. Secondly, even if you are a wannabe soldier, so what? Every kid likes to play soldiers. Adults like to play military video games, watch war movies, read war novels, play airsoft etc. Real wars may be a nasty business but the fantasy of war is glamorous, exciting and fun. If someone enjoys dressing up in multicam and shooting taliban-shaped targets so they can feel that excitement, who cares?

I have heard, and you hear this about a lot of things besides camo, that it 'makes us look bad'. But when was the last time you ever saw a news crew at your range? And it's just not my job to make other people look good. If what I wear makes other people think less of you then that's for the two of you to sort out, not me. I can't imagine why that would be the case though, I always look sharp.



As it happens I just don't like the look of camo so I avoid it. But it is a (often affordable) source of hardwearing outdoor clothing with lots of pockets and such, and with a great degree of freedom of movement. For shooting I do tend to wear 'tactical' clothing, at least on my top half, but in plain colours rather than camo. I like the freedom of movement, I prefer subdued colours like tan and olive to the blacks and bright colours of a lot of mainstream outdoor brands use, and I think the style of clothing looks more like ordinary fashionwear than Berghaus, North Face etc. Compare:

[ovenpaa]

Interesting you mention subdued colours like tan and olive, looking on my clothes shelves I see an assortment of drab sand and olive based colours, it is all mainstream stuff from Debenhams and similar so obviously the clothes designers and buyers see this as a good market. Same if you walk into Next or similar, you will see a significant range of camo type clothing so it looks like it is not just shooters that wear the stuff.

It was interesting to see the regular Army in neatly dressed matching gear and matching black berets all at the same angle, then see the other sorts show up in a rag tag assortment of faded and ill matched clothing and footwear, I doubt they were interested in what I wore though, just how I shot.

[Steve]

While looking like a walking,talking sycamore tree dont do it for me personally i know it does for some and why not.They're not a danger to society and just how many incidents have there been from crazed camo wearing people over the years?

[Chuck]

The shrinks would love this... Camo or not irrelevant really. Cheap and comfy, My DPM jacket now a good few yeras old and was great for rolling out of a foxhole at some range or just keeping me warm.

Next course up it's green ex mil trousers, brown or black T shirt and black/grey etc trainers..comfy on the old feet and it will probbaly be warm as well as dusty. And getting on the ground will be part of it for sure so the stuff is expendabvle if it gets torn/stained. Not gonna ruin perfectly good 5.11 breeks on a range..

Some folks seem to have a thing about cammo, we say "no cammo" on courses but I am not sure I would tell some Yank to remove it....they're bigger than me most times. I posted a few piccies on here a while back and some of the blokes had cammo, that set a few off but god knows why? If you correlate cammo with bad things then maybe there is something that needs addressed (not a dig DM).

Snobbery at some ranges is what it is, personally I'd rather wear cammo that's afordable than dress like a dandy in barbour, green welleis, tweeds and plus fours, the latter certainly seems to annoy the public and paint a "sport for toffs" image.

Steve NON probably. Cammo ,like guns has never killed anyone. I'd ban Burberry, have you seen the mad chavs that wear that kit!

[Dangermouse]

I believe Michael Ryan was wearing a DPM coat the day he committed his murders.

As a side note, I deal with a lot of people who have fixation problems and are at one stage or another on the mental health list. For what ever reason people with mental problems are drawn to camouflage clothing, normally ex military stuff. I don't think I have ever dealt with anyone wearing Gucci clobber.
I have, previously to my current roll, dealt with numerous characters with weapon fixations who also dress in Cammo gear or in a paramilitary fashion.
As I work in the middle of Metro city we do not see many people wearing such clothing and when we do it tends to actually draw our attention to them for the above reason. Might as well be wearing a tin foil hat, which many of them actually do.

However that is neither here nor there, proportionately I doubt that this kind of clothing would make up a percent or so if anyone kept a record. If they did we would be much more worried about jeans and football tops...

DM

[Steve]

I believe Michael Ryan was wearing a DPM coat the day he committed his murders.


DM

Quite possibly,but thats one incident in 25 years.How many people have been killed by someone wearing a hoodie in that time?

[Chuck]

it's not the clothing, it's the folks wearing it.

DM I think you qwork in a ore specialised area ta=han average joe cop do you not, stands to reason you would get a different cross section.

Hoodies, Burberry and footie tops have claimed and ruined way more lives than any civvie in cammo gear, and that is fact.

[John MH]

I believe Michael Ryan was wearing a DPM coat the day he committed his murders.

DM

And? If the nut was wearing a tutu would they be out of order in the eyes of the PC brigade. :G


Don't try to pigeon hole people who shoot because they choose to wear a particular style of clothing.