Rhodesian Assault Vests

[SquadLeader]

Who uses the Rhodesian Assault Vests?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rhodesian-Tactical-Assault-Hydration-Vest-US-Army-ACU_W0QQitemZ160154148581QQihZ006QQcategoryZ588QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

[BLUE THOR]

i have seen quite a few of these vests used by Aussie diggers, they seemed quite popular around the year 2000.
they got tan/ brown vests and painted them in Auscam or Des Auscam.
i havent seen any new ones recently because the Army has brought in something similar in our new modular vest.

[SquadLeader]

i just got the one in the link and the maker is MIL-SPEC PLUS. ehhh... its "ok" not sure but the overall feel of the vest quality is suspect. If there is no body armor concern then i think this is a good vest for hot regions. less coverage and more heat dissipation. it was only $40 so whatever...

[Noble713]

When I was at Camp Robinson for MOSQ I knew a guy who bought one of these at the PX. It matched his ACUs and was better than the issued gear he had brought with him....or so he though. One of the pockets damn near ripped off after only a single day of squad battle drills with MILES gear. He was pretty mad that he had wasted money on it.

[SquadLeader]

how much did he spend? hopefully not more than $50.

[Quinten]

It's NOT a real rhodesian/ South african assault vest.

It's a cheap copy and you payed waaaaaay to muich for it.

[SquadLeader]

yea i figured... i wonder if the MOLLE vest i got from him is cheap too. here is his ebay store...

http://stores.ebay.com/Military-Griffin

here is the vest i just got from him

http://cgi.ebay.com/MOLLE-Tactical-Assault-Plate-Carrier-Vest-Coyote-Tan_W0QQitemZ160153358433QQihZ006QQcategoryZ588QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

[playtym]

Who uses the Rhodesian Assault Vests?

Um.... the Rhodesians? They certainly never had any assault vests that looked like that though.

That's a rip off of the South African Pattern 83 Battle Jacket. I've only ever seen them manufactured in Nutria Brown.
As the other blokes already stated - it's a poor quality copy of a good piece of kit. You can buy an original for around $7 IIRC, rather than wasting money on this thing.

[jeffe]

The actual Rhodesian vests(chest pouches) were often locally manufactured and looked something like this:

[SquadLeader]

The actual Rhodesian vests(chest pouches) were often locally manufactured and looked something like this:


looks like standard issue "terry" gear :)

[Ed the bumbling fool]

This is a real sailsbury made rhodesian chest Rig All you need to go with it is a Camo shirt some rugby shorts Baseball boots (black) , a flapped cap and some paint for your SLR/R1

[maple.leaf]

Who uses the Rhodesian Assault Vests?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rhodesian-Tactical-Assault-Hydration-Vest-US-Army-ACU_W0QQitemZ160154148581QQihZ006QQcategoryZ588QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

That's a disgusting fake piece of crap, and that guy is a pain in the butt to buy from.

Walk away....

[GETSOME]

Um.... the Rhodesians? They certainly never had any assault vests that looked like that though.

That's a rip off of the South African Pattern 83 Battle Jacket. I've only ever seen them manufactured in Nutria Brown.
As the other blokes already stated - it's a poor quality copy of a good piece of kit. You can buy an original for around $7 IIRC, rather than wasting money on this thing.
X2
Good old type 83 battle jacket,lol:)

[Lerch]

People use the repro's?! I know I've seen the odd one being used on course but they usually dissapear pretty quick (either due to staff or the vest falling apart).
Otherwise the M83's were pretty popular with troops overseas during 2001-02.

[gafkiwi]

Some of the younger guys buy repro M-83s in DPM but they are more often than not ****e and especially in an Inf Bn die a quick death. Original M-83s are still in common use depending on the COs policy but with NZ pattern pouches. Alot of our guys use locally made NZ Pattern molle style vests on a M-83 type base.

[Brok]

This pattern 83 copy is piece of sh*t. It's uncomfortable and looks pretty bad. Some people are converting them to modular vests to make them more useful.

[GETSOME]

[quote=Brok;2751394]This pattern 83 copy is piece of sh*t. It's uncomfortable and looks pretty bad. Some people are converting them to modular vests to make them more useful.[/quote
Have you used one,and for how long?
I had no problem using one for nearly two years.p-)

[Brok]

Yes i used one for couple of months and i think that this vest isn't the best choice. I think that everybody who used it has a different opinion.

[charlie brown]

its south african mate , there reli awful you should of got web-tex.

[Monkey]

It's South African mate , they're really awful you should of got web-tex.

I think the point is that this is not an SADF pattern 83, it's a cheap (and nasty) copy.
The real thing is a hard wearing well thought out piece of kit.
This also has nothing to do with the Rhodesian kit, other that there was probably ex-Rhodesian army input into the design of the pattern 83.
There was another type of waistcoat type ammo vest that was used in the late 70's by the Rhodesian military that had a lot of single mag pouches on the front, water bottle pouches at each side plus a built in small pack on the back and straps for attaching a sleeping bag. I think they were made by a company in Salisbury called Fereday or something like that.
As for Web-tex, that's also a rather less than first class (made in China) copy of the real thing aimed at cadets who can't afford proper kit.

[playtym]

Have you used one,and for how long?
I had no problem using one for nearly two years.p-)

He was talking about the copy, I think, not the original. p-)



its south african mate , there reli awful you should of got web-tex.

We never used that piece of crap copy, that apparently falls apart. I've never seen an original South African Pattern 83 Battle Jacket fail.

Oh, I almost forgot, you should get some capital letters and a dictionary!

[Hauser]

its south african mate , there reli awful you should of got web-tex.

The real vest is quality, and if you are saying the the copy is 'reli awful', the most comman copy, the Viper one, is made by the same company as the Web-Tex vests. They are both as bad as each other in terms of build quality/durability.

[Brok]

Yes, of course i was talking about a copy.

[Monkey]

This is a real sailsbury made rhodesian chest Rig All you need to go with it is a Camo shirt some rugby shorts Baseball boots (black) , a flapped cap and some paint for your SLR/R1

There is one just like that on eBay at the moment, last time I looked it was up to £200.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RHODESIA-CHEST-WEBBING-FOR-FN-7-62_W0QQitemZ270163086325QQihZ017QQcategoryZ13983QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[playtym]

There is one just like that on eBay at the moment, last time I looked it was up to £200.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RHODESIA-CHEST-WEBBING-FOR-FN-7-62_W0QQitemZ270163086325QQihZ017QQcategoryZ13983QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Man, with 20/20 hindsight, I could kick myself sometimes. There was so much kit like this that I tossed because I never thought it would be useful. I could have sold it for a fortune on eBay. :-(

[Deftoner]

Man, with 20/20 hindsight, I could kick myself sometimes. There was so much kit like this that I tossed because I never thought it would be useful. I could have sold it for a fortune on eBay. :-(

I think my dad still has his duffel with all his webbing in it....

who's interested? ;)

Still smells like Angola.

[GETSOME]

Man, with 20/20 hindsight, I could kick myself sometimes. There was so much kit like this that I tossed because I never thought it would be useful. I could have sold it for a fortune on eBay. :-(
Yeh,you should see all the extra stuff i "collected" while i was in, especially when we used to do guard duty around the stores at night,as well as the old webbing we used for basics,the canvass stuff,lol.
Sold all that to a surplus store for nothing before i went overseas.:-(

[playtym]

Yeh,you should see all the extra stuff i "collected" while i was in, especially when we used to do guard duty around the stores at night,as well as the old webbing we used for basics,the canvass stuff,lol.
Sold all that to a surplus store for nothing before i went overseas.:-(

I gave my browns to the gardener (probably some sort of offence), and tossed or gave away a bunch of other stuff.

For example, I had an East German RPG-7 back-pack thingie for carrying rockets, that I gave away. My attitude was, I don't have an RPG-7 so I can't use it, it's cluttering up the spare room, get rid of it. I could have probably sold it on eBay for a fair bit now.

It's amazing to see what people will pay for stuff that we considered to be worthless and an incovenience at the time. :-(

[baboon6]

I've got a genuine Brit 1950s Denison airborne troops smock my dad gave to me (don't know where he got it), is it worth anything?

[GETSOME]

I've got a genuine Brit 1950s Denison airborne troops smock my dad gave to me (don't know where he got it), is it worth anything?
Is it olive green?
Those are nice jackets,dont know the value ,but its worth keeping.

[baboon6]

Is it olive green?
Those are nice jackets,dont know the value ,but its worth keeping.

No it's camouflage. Differs from WW2 pattern in that it has full-length zip and knitted cuffs, cam pattern also a bit different. Far too small for me (my dad's 5ft 8 inches tall, I'm 6 feet).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denison_Smock


BTW Playtym isn't there some company here in SA selling Pattern 83 vests on the web for almost nothing?

[charlie brown]

The real vest is quality, and if you are saying the the copy is 'reli awful', the most comman copy, the Viper one, is made by the same company as the Web-Tex vests. They are both as bad as each other in terms of build quality/durability. no i believe that the web-tex version of assualt vests have much more quality and durability then the crapy viper which everyones decides to buy. trust me i have a web-tex assualt vest it has never let me down. plus its looks and feels so much better. doesn't anyone agree?

[playtym]

No it's camouflage. Differs from WW2 pattern in that it has full-length zip and knitted cuffs, cam pattern also a bit different. Far too small for me (my dad's 5ft 8 inches tall, I'm 6 feet).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denison_Smock


BTW Playtym isn't there some company here in SA selling Pattern 83 vests on the web for almost nothing?

I can think of two off the top of my head - they go for around $7.

[Ironsight06]

Name of the company is Belikoff.

[playtym]

Name of the company is Belikoff.

No it's not, ignore what he said. The real name is Playtym and Ironsight's Supply Store. PM us for prices. p-)

[Hauser]

no i believe that the web-tex version of assualt vests have much more quality and durability then the crapy viper which everyones decides to buy. trust me i have a web-tex assualt vest it has never let me down. plus its looks and feels so much better. doesn't anyone agree?

I only have experience with the web-tex webbing, but that was a POS, falling apart after only a couple of months. Viper and web-tex are both just different parts of the same company, believe is called thatchcreed or something. I agree that the web-tex vest is probly more comfortable than the Viper SAAV, was just saying that the build quality is the same (poor in my opinion), as they both come out of the same Chinese sweatshop.

[Ironsight06]

No it's not, ignore what he said. The real name is Playtym and Ironsight's Supply Store. PM us for prices. p-)
Pfff Belikoff is wholesale. People have to come to us anyway. p-)