BDU manufacturer

Joined
Nov 19, 2000
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234
I've been doing dome research on mil-spec clothing manufacturers for boonie hats.

The two names that keep popping up are Propper and Truspec.

Both claim to be manufacturers of military clothing.

Does anyone know from which (if it matters at all) manufacturer I might purchase a mil-spec boonie hat from?

Is the quality comparable between the two?
 
itseems that the price is not that expensive, the hats last a fair length of time and are easily replacable. so what difference does it make? if you want a milspec call shomertec or brigade quartermasters and they will sell you one. if you want to go a little less expensive call sportsmans guide they also sell a boonie hat.
alex
 
AFAIK Propper makes all US army BDU Clothing. I have some propper BDU shirts and pants as well as a M-65 and they seem like they will last forever. I also have a black M-65 made by Tru-spec and it seems to be holding up just fine as well, although it doesnt seem as tough as my Propper M-65(propper is NYCO 50% cotton 50% nylon, Tru-spec is 100% cotton ripstop)
 
Go here:
http://www.rangerjoes.com/catalog/selection.cfm?category=main&id=656

These guys are located right by Ft Benning in Columbus, Georgia, and most of the gear they sell is genuine govt. issue. I have bought a couple of Boonie hats from them and they seemed to be true milspec. I actually had bought a Propper brand boonie previously but I didn't like the construction as much as the ones from Ranger Joe's.
 
Folks, the only sure way to know if it is made to "Milspec" is to make sure it has a National Stock Number. The NSN is a DOD/NATO product/inventory number for those items truely sold to the military. The number looks like this: NSN XXXX-00-XXX-XXXX. The 00 may be 01 but the convention above is correct. Without this number the item in question may be Milspec or may not, but you have no guarantee.

Bruce
 
I recently bought a Propper woodland camo boonie from a local army surplus store. Love the style. The hat has a number as follows:
MIL-H-XXXXX
XXXX-00-XXX-XXXX
Is it Milspec? Thank you for your time.
 
Yes it is. It has the Milspec number, a number reference to the quality attributes the hat must be made to, and the NSN number. If you look at that hat and another one like it in a different size, they will have different NSN's in the last two, right-most places. That's because the NSN is for an individual item which could include color, size, etc. But the Milspec # should be the same for each hat of that type.

The NSN indicates the DOD has accepted it as an issue item, not that it has been issued.

Bruce
 
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