MIL-C-5040H Type III

E

erik the red

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Nov 15, 2009
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Looking for the best price on genuine mil. spec. MIL-C-5040H type III 550 cord. Any suggestions on venders? I am not interested in the "almost mil. spec" commercial grade cord. Thanks much. :)
 
I see it sold on it's original spools all he time on ebay. I was lucky enough to pick up a life-long supply before retiring. I buy small quantities of commercial cord in order to get different colors.
 
Call Tom at Campingsurvival.com. He'll talk you through the varieties. I get all of mine there by the spool.
 
The 500' and 300' spools are the real deal. We use them up at the school.Believe me, it is mil-spec. Any reason you want the exact nomenclature of the 550 cord?
 
Try goinggear.com. They have 8 strand paracord, which is what the military is starting to switch over to most of the other paracord is 7 strand. They are the same exact thing, only the 8 strand has 1 more strand inside the outer layer. I think it's rated to around 650-700 lbs, 7 strand is 550lbs.
 
k_estela said:
Call Tom at Campingsurvival.com. He'll talk you through the varieties. I get all of mine there by the spool.
Click to expand...

Two weeks ago I ordered two 1000 foot spools of so called Mil-Spec MIL-C-5040 Paracord from Tom at CampingSurvival.com. When I received it I immediately knew I did not have MIL-C-5040 cord in my hands. I questioned Tom about it and he insisted it was the real stuff from Gladding Braid who do provide Paracord to the military.

I contacted Gladding Braid last week and sent them detailed photo's of the cord I received. The cord was 7-strand, but the strands were all white and were composed of 2 cords per strand instead of 3.

Mike Radziwon at Gladding told me "It is our commercial version of Mil-C-5040, which differs somewhat in construction, but replicates the performance."

I then asked him if I could get a 1000' spool of the real Mil-C-5040 cord and he said yes. It cost me $105.50 with shipping. I am expecting that delivery any day now.

Don't get me wrong. The stuff from CampingSurvival.com is good cord for the price. I paid $35 per 1000 foot roll, but it is not the military grade stuff. The advertising on their site is quite misleading as they try hard to represent the commercial stuff as the Mil-C-5040 "real" stuff.

I will post back in a few days when I get the real stuff from Gladding Braid. I will then be able to provide a detailed comparison of their commercial product vs. their military grade product.
 
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ArJunaBug, yes welcome to the forum! Please send a side-by-side photo of the commerical and the Mil Spec cord for visual compairson. I"m really curious the difference.

Thanks!
 
OK, I got the Mil-C-5040 cord in yesterday and today I did as I promised. Here is a side-by-side comparison of the two. My opinion is the commercial cord, while noticeably different is still a bargain at the price. I paid $36 per 1000 feet of commercial cord vs. $95 for 1000 feet of true Mil-Spec cord. I will use both always.

The first thing that jumped out at me was the size of the cord on the spool.


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Compare the commercial cord (black) on the right with the Mil-C-5040 cord in the middle. Ignore the commercial cord on the left as I have pulled some off the spool already. The two spools on the right are brand new. The Mil-C-5040 cord has significantly more bulk.

Next I did a side-by-side of the cord with the cores exposed. Here you see the size of the Mil-C-5040 cord (center) is a bit larger than the commercial cord and this is more noticeable when you hold it, between your fingers the Mil-C-5040 cord feels thicker for sure.


- Click on Image to Enlarge -​

Notice the individual core strands, they feel significantly thicker in the Mil-C-5040 cord when held between your fingers. I am not sure how much of this has to do with the physical size of the cord vs. the fact that one is 2-ply and the other a tighter wrapped 3-ply.


- Click on Image to Enlarge -​

I also tied a knot with each type and pulled them equally as tight to show the difference again in the bulk of the cord.


- Click on Image to Enlarge -​

The Mil-C-5040 cord on top is again noticeably larger.

All told, they are very similar in how they feel, it is just the Mil-C-5040 cord is IMO going to be stronger based on my perceptions. They both feel to be made of quality materials that are nearly identical. I have seen some comparisons online where testing shows the commercial cord having a breaking strength of 650lbs. and the Mil-C-5040 cord 750lbs., which bears out with the evidence here. I have no facility to actually test this stuff, but I feel comfortable that these are both quality cord that meet the spec for "550" cord.

Again, I will continue to buy both for my purposes. The cord sold at Campingsurvival.com is a bargain, most of the other sites I have found on the net are selling the same or worse for much higher cost.

After all the work I have done I would recommend you buy your commercial cord at Campingsurvival.com for $36 per 1000' and for the true Mil-C-5040 cord I would go to BestGlide.com for $95 per 1000'. Smaller amounts are available from both dealers.

I think this may be the definitive comparison of Commercial vs. Mil-C-5040 cord, but it is not even beginning to touch on all the cheap knock-offs to be found on the market. I have seen dozens of cheap lookalikes that would not hold up to the two I discuss here. Caveat Emptor.


ETA:
I have seen a lot of nonsense regarding the specifications of Mil-C-5040 and the number of core strands. I read the document entirely and Type III 550 cord for military use must have between 7-9 core strands and they must be 3-ply each. It also says the cord MUST have one or more unique colored threads in one of the cores to identify the manufacturer. The version of the document I have is MIL-C-5040H, which is the most recent as of this writing.
 
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wow... thanks for the comparison. I knew that there was lower quality stuff with a "fake" crappy core, but I didn't know that "mil-spec" 8 strand had such a noticeable difference with non-mil-spec 7-strand. Probably going to have to pick up a spool myself!
 
Good write-up man.

Any chance of getting a shot of the labeling of the MIL- spool so we might be able to recognize the real deal if we encounter at a show or somewhere??

I've seen spools for <$50 at shows before, but was always leery over the "real stuff" claims.

Thanks again bud.
 
Thanks for the comparison! I'm a little afraid to go check my spool, now:eek: (Oh, well. I got a good deal on it.)
 
flybri said:
wow... thanks for the comparison. I knew that there was lower quality stuff with a "fake" crappy core, but I didn't know that "mil-spec" 8 strand had such a noticeable difference with non-mil-spec 7-strand. Probably going to have to pick up a spool myself!
Click to expand...

Look carefully at the photos, they are all 7-strand cords. I have split one of the strands on each type to show the 2-ply vs. 3-ply construction.
 
thatmguy said:
Good write-up man.

Any chance of getting a shot of the labeling of the MIL- spool so we might be able to recognize the real deal if we encounter at a show or somewhere??
Click to expand...

The commercial cord is labeled "550 Paracord" and the other is labeled "MIL-C-5040" with a lot number and color "Camo-Green" in this case.
 
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