The Adventurer's Gear Thread

[RBH]

Frank Buck

Ran across this photo on the net. I have several Buck books that I found years ago in a sale.
Back when I was a kid I thought he dressed so cool. Still do.
He even look sharp in a fedora.
This guy was something else in his day.

 

[Mojave Jack]

I look at Filson and find that they are function without form- no style at all...
Utilitarian with no character at all.
I only bought the RL vest because of the vintage styling.

Filson is a bit on the utilitarian side, but I do like the tin cruiser, mwelch8404. And the stuff wears like iron. I have the tin chaps, and man, do they work great in thick brush. I underestimated how well they were working for me until a hot day when I decided to forego them. I was back to the truck in about 10 minutes putting them back on.

...not to mention overpriced.

Too true, unfortunately. Even on the 'Bay they go for almost their regular price. I've managed to make one decent Filson deal, and that was for an OD moleskin cruiser. It has two black dots on the front that someone tried to bleach out, so now it has two black dots with whitened rings around them. :eusa_doh: Still, I like the vest a lot, and no one sees those flaws when I'm in the field.

Jack- find me a smaller one(this one's XL, a little large) and you can take this one. Keep yer eyes open on the eEb.

Hmm, bit big for me, too, I'm afraid. I'm a pretty solid 42 chest. That one'd make a heckuva good pattern, though, wouldn't it? Have it duplicated when the time comes, just in sizes for us!

Ran across this photo on the net. I have several Buck books that I found years ago in a sale.
Back when I was a kid I thought he dressed so cool. Still do.
He even look sharp in a fedora.
This guy was something else in his day.

You know, I know Frank Buck by reputation, but I've never read this! This has got to go on my short list. Thanks for the recommendation, RBH!

 

[John in Covina]

The Redwood Boots

I stumbled across these Redwood boots with the idea of lineman boots in brown as adventurer boots.

http://www.hallssafety.com/catalog_boots/page10.htm

 

[carebear]

Change the sole, but what about the steel shank?

 

[BellyTank]

The "shank" is a metal piece, set inside the arch- for support.

Nice boots- I had a similarly styled but short pair of Linesman boots but they had steel toecaps.


B
T

 

[carebear]

The "shank" is a metal piece, set inside the arch- for support.

Nice boots- I had a similarly styled but short pair of Linesman boots but they had steel toecaps.


B
T

I know what it is, I was wondering if a boot specifically built for stiffness in climbing poles would be comfortable for extended walking.

 

[eightbore]

I've bought A LOT of Filson gear of all sorts over the years and have cried about the price every single time. Still, I've only had to cry once while people who buy inferior equipment often cry repeatedly when they pay to replace the stuff or when it fails them in the field. Further, Filson's customer service is tops. An airline employee in Africa damaged some of my luggage and Filson repaired it at no charge. Northern Canada's rocky terrain also tore a hole in some heavy wool bibs of mine and Filson again repaired them at no charge. They even sent me a few yards of gratis tin cloth to reinforce the wool to my own custom specs. In both of these circumstances, I'm certain lesser equipment would have had nothing left to repair. One may not appreciate the fit or the uniquely "American" retro style of their gear, but some of us need equipment that works great and looks good....not the other way around. Granted, not everyone needs the level of durability that Filson provides but as I'm not a rich man, I can only afford to buy the best. Filson is it for my purposes.

JMHO,

eightbore

 

[BellyTank]

I'm very much aware of the apparent utility of Filson clothing and its heritage.
I like the stuff but I'm looking for a certain style.
I did not buy an RL vest for enhanced utility.
I would never normally buy RL.
This was just a unique item that (accidentally)met my ?¶sthetic.

I have a Tin cloth cap somewhere...


B
T

 

[eightbore]

aesthetics

...and I think this is the point. Filson provides a unique and, unders some circumstances, aesthetically appealing look to those for whom aethetics is purely secondary to utility. Without exaggeration, when one is "north of 60", inferior gear equals death. At -50, the aesthete is usually the guy who's dead in the bush or waiting for the rescue helicopter.

I'm glad you have at tin cloth cap BT, it'll probably be worn by your grandchildren as well.

Best,

eightbore

 

[BellyTank]

Well, you may or may not know the context within which I'm working- but I'm trying to assemble a collection of 1930s styled "Adventuring pieces."

Of course, you're right about the utility factor but good looks can generally be engineered into a practical garment.

"North of 60" I wouldn't be dressing for ?¶sthetics-

B
T

 

[nobodyspecial]

"I'm trying to assemble a collection of 1930s styled "Adventuring pieces.""

This is interesting. Can you expand on what you're looking for, what you have and why the 1930's versus another decade or era?

 

[BellyTank]

It's all in this thread-

B
T

 

[carebear]

...and worth the read. :eusa_clap

 

[nobodyspecial]

I find this web site regarding Swiss Army Rifles interesting. http://www.swissrifles.com/

I know nothing of rifles, but in the forum section there are posts regarding various pieces of vintage Swiss military kit. This post in particular caught my eye
http://p082.ezboard.com/Appalachian...ssageboardfrm13.showMessage?topicID=573.topic

It's great to see someone using vintage kit in the field. Mostly post WWII pieces, but likely the pieces have not changed much from an earlier period.

 

[Alan Eardley]

Thank for refering us to that - I have suddenly realised that the stuff I have been using regularly for hiking, camping and mountaineering since the 1970s is 'vintage'. And I thought it was just stuff I was too mean to replace... To me, some of the guy's stuff in the posting is so new it's probably still under warranty!

Alan

 

[nobodyspecial]

Most of my kit comes from the 1970's - packs, tents, stoves, cookware, sleeping bags and assorted clothing. Modern gear, although generally lighter in weight, is boring and frequently doesn't live up to the marketing hype.

 

[Story]

The reality of a man in the adventurer's clothes

Shot in the dark
BY ALASTAIR ROBERTSON
http://living.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1900922007

I WAS talking to a retired professional stalker out shooting and we got round to neck shots on deer. A neck shot, which requires immense precision, placing the bullet through the spinal column at 200 yards, is considered rather smart - and there may be those who can pull it off time and again - but for the rest of us a neck shot is not on, he opined.

Go only for the heart and lungs, a larger and hence less missable target and less chance of wounding. Had it not been for the fact that we had to break off the conversation and rush back to our pegs as the drive had started, I would have brought up the name of Karamojo Bell. As one does.

The point about Karamojo Bell is that he specialised in head shots, not on deer, but elephants. The shot was so specialised it became known as a Bell Shot - straight to the brain. You might consider that it is hard to miss an elephant at 25 yards but I wouldn't like to try it. And certainly not with the rifle Bell is known for, a .257 Rigby, a classic British rifle but built on near identical lines to the German Mauser 7x57.

A .257 is considered a perfectly respectable rifle for red deer, but today you would be sent back to your tent if you pitched up with one on safari expecting to shoot an elephant. Today the legal minimum for elephant is .375.

It was because Bell, the youngest son of an Edinburgh timber merchant, was not only a very good shot but had also dissected elephants to see how they were made, that he was able to get away with the smaller calibre. (I bet that he fluffed a few before he got it right).

Back then elephants could be more easily approached in the open. He wrote several books, notably The Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter, a series of self- illustrated essays and stories about his exploits in Uganda, the Sudan, Ethiopia, and central and west Africa.

But according to Dr Julian Hunter from North Kessock, who is writing a treatise on the man for that august organ the Ross-shire Journal, Karamojo Bell - full name William Dalrymple Maitland Bell - never seems to have had his photograph taken. I feel, though, that there must be one out there somewhere.

His claim to fame is that he probably shot more elephants than anyone else in his day - 1,011 in the five years up to 1907. He was in the ivory business, pure and simple, and mainly around Karamojo in Uganda.

On one occasion Bell defended himself and his few followers against a hostile force of 400 with a ten-shot rifle and a Mauser broomhandle pistol. This is serious Boy's Own stuff. Eat your heart out Ernest Hemingway. By the time he was 21 he had been a hunter for the Ugandan railways clearing hippopotami, panned for gold in Alaska and fought in the Boer War with Canadian mounted troops. He had been captured and escaped.

During the First World War he volunteered again and became a fighter pilot in what is now Tanzania and seems to have dispensed with an observer in the front cockpit so that he could get a better shot at the Hun with his elephant rifle. He later served in Greece and France and was awarded the MC and bar. Between wars Bell was slaughtering game in Africa.

In 1940 he sailed his Aberdeen-built Olin Stephens-designed steel yacht to Dunkirk. He died at Corriemoillie, his Ross-shire estate, in 1951. I've a feeling, although Dr Hunter will reveal all in due course, he is buried there. Dr Hunter says Bell would be appalled at all the wind farms going up around his estate. I'm not so sure. I think he'd use them as target practice over breakfast on the terrace.

 

[eightbore]

In African lore, there is certainly Bell but there is also Baker. Some like Bell's finesse but others (myself included) wholeheartedly appreciate Samuel White Baker's willingness to stomp about multiple continents with a 9kg four bore rifle loaded with 14 (or sometimes more) drams of black powder. it's one thing to shoot a rifle now and again that makes you feel like you just got slugged in the mouth....it's quite another to make a life out of the activity. Don't I just hate having been born in the 20th century! If anyone wants an interesting read describing great times using relatively basic kit, Baker is worth a look.

Wonder how Bell or Baker would respond to their modern "critics"?

 

[Gatsby84]

I've recently been reading Marie by H.R.Haggard and it seems like some of those events in Story's post about Bell might have been used by Haggard as a part of Allan Quatermain's life. If this is not the case, it is quite an interesting similarity. Now my interest is piqued and I shall have to find out more about these two hunters.
-Allen

 

[cookie]

Shot in the dark
BY ALASTAIR ROBERTSON
http://living.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1900922007

I WAS talking to a retired professional stalker out shooting and we got round to neck shots on deer. A neck shot, which requires immense precision, placing the bullet through the spinal column at 200 yards, is considered rather smart - and there may be those who can pull it off time and again - but for the rest of us a neck shot is not on, he opined.

Go only for the heart and lungs, a larger and hence less missable target and less chance of wounding. Had it not been for the fact that we had to break off the conversation and rush back to our pegs as the drive had started, I would have brought up the name of Karamojo Bell. As one does.

The point about Karamojo Bell is that he specialised in head shots, not on deer, but elephants. The shot was so specialised it became known as a Bell Shot - straight to the brain. You might consider that it is hard to miss an elephant at 25 yards but I wouldn't like to try it. And certainly not with the rifle Bell is known for, a .257 Rigby, a classic British rifle but built on near identical lines to the German Mauser 7x57.

A .257 is considered a perfectly respectable rifle for red deer, but today you would be sent back to your tent if you pitched up with one on safari expecting to shoot an elephant. Today the legal minimum for elephant is .375.

It was because Bell, the youngest son of an Edinburgh timber merchant, was not only a very good shot but had also dissected elephants to see how they were made, that he was able to get away with the smaller calibre. (I bet that he fluffed a few before he got it right).

Back then elephants could be more easily approached in the open. He wrote several books, notably The Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter, a series of self- illustrated essays and stories about his exploits in Uganda, the Sudan, Ethiopia, and central and west Africa.

But according to Dr Julian Hunter from North Kessock, who is writing a treatise on the man for that august organ the Ross-shire Journal, Karamojo Bell - full name William Dalrymple Maitland Bell - never seems to have had his photograph taken. I feel, though, that there must be one out there somewhere.

His claim to fame is that he probably shot more elephants than anyone else in his day - 1,011 in the five years up to 1907. He was in the ivory business, pure and simple, and mainly around Karamojo in Uganda.

On one occasion Bell defended himself and his few followers against a hostile force of 400 with a ten-shot rifle and a Mauser broomhandle pistol. This is serious Boy's Own stuff. Eat your heart out Ernest Hemingway. By the time he was 21 he had been a hunter for the Ugandan railways clearing hippopotami, panned for gold in Alaska and fought in the Boer War with Canadian mounted troops. He had been captured and escaped.

During the First World War he volunteered again and became a fighter pilot in what is now Tanzania and seems to have dispensed with an observer in the front cockpit so that he could get a better shot at the Hun with his elephant rifle. He later served in Greece and France and was awarded the MC and bar. Between wars Bell was slaughtering game in Africa.

In 1940 he sailed his Aberdeen-built Olin Stephens-designed steel yacht to Dunkirk. He died at Corriemoillie, his Ross-shire estate, in 1951. I've a feeling, although Dr Hunter will reveal all in due course, he is buried there. Dr Hunter says Bell would be appalled at all the wind farms going up around his estate. I'm not so sure. I think he'd use them as target practice over breakfast on the terrace.

You can see why the colonized the Empire for the English!