Miller 257 Raider open crown: opinions?

[Kaleponi Craig]

Akurba Fed

I've had my Akurba Federation in all sorts of downpours and it hasn't tapered. It got a little out of shape once when I was in a rainstorm that lasted all day. But a couple of minutes of steaming and rebashing worked just fine. IMHO, it's the best hat for the money, I think it was less than $100, including shipping from Australia....

http://www.hatsdirect.com/cgi/products.cgi?view=44&returncat=Fedora+Hats&returnpage=0

Or you can go up one notch and get the Fed Deluxe, which is made with a finer fur felt...

http://www.hatsdirect.com/cgi/products.cgi?view=46&returncat=Fedora+Hats&returnpage=0

One word of caution, however, is that they seem to run a bit large. I normally wear a 61, but a 60 Akurba fits me perfectly.

But if you are looking for the ultimate Indy hat, you gotta go with the Adventurebilt beaver lid from Fedora...

http://www.adventurebilthats.com/

It is by far the best hat I've ever owned and is a pleasure to wear. My avatar shows me wearing one at Machu Picchu, after hiking 4 days on the Inca Trail. That hat stood up to heat, rain and all sorts of bad treatment. It came through in flying colors...KC

 

[Fletch]

Um...

What I'm really looking for is a hat with a generally 1930s-40s look. I hear the Feds are good for that so that's probably what I'll go with.

 

[Kaleponi Craig]

What I'm really looking for is a hat with a generally 1930s-40s look. I hear the Feds are good for that so that's probably what I'll go with.

Actually, Fletch, these come open crowned, so you can bash it anyway you want. It just takes a few minutes to bash it and it's lots of fun.

Akubra has some pre-bashed lids that have the 30s-40s look also...KC