Beltkit

[East Scout II]

bolognaise sauce.........<-------What is that?

Good post Sabre!

[kayaker]

Yeah good post indeed! Ray Mears is also a fan of salami on trips, he recommended it on one of his shows... must try it.

During the trip in Scotland I feared we would not make the pick up point on time and kept walking into the dark hours... after stopping, putting up the basha, getting kit out, boots off, (you know the drill!) getting into the maggot, then nearly being discovered when a idiot with a 1.000.000million candel torch was walking the hill we were both too tired to boil water (again, as we had to kill the cooker). Next morning the breakfast of wholemeal bread and tinned mackrel with tomato sauce never tasted so good!

But you're right: meals from lidl are neither tasty or sufficient. Planning to bake my own bread ala Ray Mears (from the episode cayaking in Canada).

[East Scout II]

Salami or Summer Sausage (as some call it) is great bush food....Someone always has a Donkey **** in their ruck and it makes for a fast tastey treat thats easy to fool with while on short breaks...Makes me so thirsty though!

[East Scout II]

time and kept walking into the dark hours... after stopping, putting up the basha, getting kit out, boots off, (you know the drill!) getting into the maggot, then nearly being discovered when a idiot with a 1.000.000million candel torch

I have yet to be discovered..Some close calls but they didnt win a dolly..I have walkled right past hunters in tree stands w/o them hearing me...Had them walk right past me so close i could read the numbers on their hunting license...I have had red-necks on 4 wheelers and driving 4x4s drive within feet of me and never had a problem...One must be careful in hunting season that one dosnt get an arrow through his chest as the local hunters are less that safe at times.... They like thier beer and hunting mixed.


Lucky for me that my state is poor and wont shell out money for the proper number of Game Wardens and i have never had a problem with them either.....

[kayaker]

ROFL: its great to see without being seen!

[East Scout II]

ROFL: its great to see without being seen!

Yes it has a certain rush to it...I have been shot at as well buy some locals..I wasnt in C&C mode but rather walking with my dog just looking around..This happend twice..

[Sabre]

bolognaise sauce.........<-------What is that?

Good post Sabre!

Yeah good post indeed! Ray Mears is also a fan of salami on trips, he recommended it on one of his shows... must try it.

During the trip in Scotland I feared we would not make the pick up point on time and kept walking into the dark hours... after stopping, putting up the basha, getting kit out, boots off, (you know the drill!) getting into the maggot, then nearly being discovered when a idiot with a 1.000.000million candel torch was walking the hill we were both too tired to boil water (again, as we had to kill the cooker). Next morning the breakfast of wholemeal bread and tinned mackrel with tomato sauce never tasted so good!

But you're right: meals from lidl are neither tasty or sufficient. Planning to bake my own bread ala Ray Mears (from the episode cayaking in Canada).

That's why I don't like hiking in the UK that much. Scotland isn't too bad because of the right to roam, but usually somebody still owns the land and comes poking around. I prefer to be in the middle of nowhere like in the Scandinavian wilderness, where the land isn't owned and the people are more respectful of the do's and don'ts of wild camping.

[kayaker]

In scotland the law forbids dissallowing people to pass over your land as long as they are respectful (if I remember reading correctly in the book ("100 greatest Scottish walks" 1999 unkown author/publisher) aka the rules I posted earlier to which I stick.

I do love camping in Scotland, I did not meet anyone in the hills while I was there. Neither were there any farms, roads or fencing in sight for the most part. Its also closer than Scandinavia . However no doubt the latter allowes for more rural hiking.

Even in civvie hiking there are times I when the situation demands to pack up and go. It was a tight squeeze last time so in future good idea to pack a bigger ruck in which I can simple stuff the maggot, basha, rollmat and smock and go.

BTW the large, bold lettered posts earlier were not meant to be like that!!! ****head windows is to blame.

[kayaker]

Sabre,
Was checking out some old equipment threads and came across this:
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...t=11400&page=2

A very thorough list! Couple of Q:
1. whats flod-a-mug
2. gloves (NI, fingers cut off) why cut off all the fingers instead of only
cutting a small hole for the trigger finger?

[Sabre]

@Ryan
Lord, that was a while ago!

Lets have a look at the list...


In webbing:

2x issue water bottles YEP
metal mug YEP
emergency hexi blocks (4 blocks, no cooker) YEP + three 6 inch nails
two US 'MRE heaters' YEP (make sure they're from a good batch, got p!ssed off with one not so long ago!)

two or three main meals (british 'boilies')
two desserts (no breakfasts, can't stand army beans anymore) YEP (carry a bit less now though)

chocolate NAH, in my smock
brew kit (hot chocolate and tea, no coffee..new healthy living lifestyle!) YEP binned the tea though

puritabs (not in the packets, in an old plastic pill bottle) YEP
survival kit YEP, most of the time
Millbank filter bag YEP, not always though
med kit YEP, including FFD+crepe, naso and oral airways
chem-lights YEP, red for IDing a casualty at night
15metres mine tape NAH, binned it
15meters paracord NAH, replaced with fishing reel and 150m of thin line

Also added a model kit, loop line and carabiner, maglite + filters


On person:

'Tikka' headtorch (red filter for sorting **** out in woods etc) YEP
Minimaglite (with pinpoint white light, for map reading) NO, replaced with LED
swedish 'flod-a-mug' NOPE, binned it, but good to have on the range*
FFD YEP
cam cream YEP
mozzie cream YEP, if needed
sun cream (if applicable, usually not!) YEP, if important
compass YEP
combi tool YEP
spare batteries YEP
spare filter (for head torch) YEP
puritabs NOPE (ought to)
matches NOPE
lighter YEP
paracord NOPE
earplugs YEP
weapon cleaning kit YEP (a little bottle, pull through, bore brush, flannelette, scotchbrite + nylon brush
wool hat (US issue) YEP
wool headover (UK issue, a truely transatlantic partnership!) NAH
gloves (NI, fingers cut off) REPLACED with RAF pilot gloves
rag (for sweat, weapon, anything) NOPE
'sweet bag' (full of boiled sweets, chocolate etc) IF static for a time
several polybags IN beltkit
waterproofed notebook and map YEP (map in trousers)
knife lanyarded to trouser pocket YEP (in smock at the mo)

Can't believe I forgot the sh!t paper!!!! Also, paracord sling for rifle, speedloader, spoon and midge net if needed.

*Here is a 'fold a mug' (folds in half)



I cut off all the fingers on the gloves because A) they were a size too small and B) you need all you fingertips to do fiddly tasks, not just the right index. But I use RAF pilot's gloves now wich are much more tactile.

[East Scout II]

People here are absolutely LETHAL about touching one foot on thier land even if they own a zillion achres in the middle of no where...Its crazy but again thats Americans for you......

I got a new peice of gear..Ill post a pic in the morning..Its a swiss army field stove...Its late here, 24:27, so thats about 0530 your UK time so ill do it in the morning..

[kayaker]

Cheers Sabre,
Mate had one of those fold mugs, I found them well worth it on a survival course. It stops having to dig out the whole brewkit every time I need a mug.
A parasling for the SA80? IS that allowed in regular units? In the ACF an, ex-LI, instructor asked if I could teach the younger cadets how to put one on a rifle. He had never used slings after basic, apart from NI where they used short ones clipped to a carabiner.
For the LED' are you using the unbreakable Photon 3 series? Over at ETS (equipped.org) they're survival ****.
Folders: what are you using? I might buy a Benchmade or Sebenza to replace my origional Buck.
Never seen a speedloader:they used to hold rounds and press them into a mag, like a clip?

Brandenburger,
why did you go for the swedish field stove? What did you have before that?

[Weasel]

I didn´t read the whole thread but I like what I´ve read.

When I was younger I also had a lot of survival "toys". But after a time I recognized more and more that military stuff is not convenient for hiking - too heavy, too big. Professional hiking stuff is much better (for my purposes).

[Sabre]

Yeah, I went from using 2nd hand military boots/tents etc to the top of the range hiking kit. There's no point in compromising on kit if you are going to buy mid-priced crap that will not last. I find a lot of the UK gear isn't worth spending the money on. Vango, karrimor, berghaus. lowe alpine, they all produce similar kit that doesn't withstand heavy use. That said I use a Vulcan, but I bought it cheap on ebay.

A lot of my kit is Swedish:


hilleberg akto one man tent


Fjallraven trousers

I use a primus stove and trangia tins, a swedish army wool cardigan and am going to invest in one of these tops:


Craft baselayer, better than a Helly Hanson, warmer when it needs to be, cooler because of the zip, and.....it hardly stinks at all!


@ryan

The LED torch was one I bought in Blacks for around £8. It takes three watch batteries and is much brighter than a maglite solitaire.
The SA80 sling is a good sling, but sometimes I don't use it. It is always useful to have a length of paracord with a karabiner on wrapped around the butt in case a sling is needed. I also always carry the SA80 sling in my belt kit if it's not fitted.
A speedloader is one of these:


It sits on top of a mag and you put a clip in it, push the rounds down, and it feeds them into the mag


US speedloader, metal and smaller.

[Weasel]

Yeah, I went from using 2nd hand military boots/tents etc to the top of the range hiking kit. There's no point in compromising on kit if you are going to buy mid-priced crap that will not last. I find a lot of the UK gear isn't worth spending the money on. Vango, karrimor, berghaus. lowe alpine, they all produce similar kit that doesn't withstand heavy use. That said I use a Vulcan, but I bought it cheap on ebay.

A lot of my kit is Swedish:


hilleberg akto one man tent


Fjallraven trousers

I use a primus stove and trangia tins, a swedish army wool cardigan and am going to invest in one of these tops:


Craft baselayer, better than a Helly Hanson, warmer when it needs to be, cooler because of the zip, and.....it hardly stinks at all!

Hey, I love you.

Seriously: You have some very good stuff there. I have nearly the same tent but my one was cheaper and is from Jack Wolfskin. I will post a picture of my stuff later.