Repro M41 field jacket

[Marv]

Just a quickie regarding the various repro manufactures of the M41 field jacket in both the US and the UK.
Firstly, which company makes the best repro M41 in your opinion in the US and also in UK.
Secondly, is their a so-called difference between the EM jacket and the Officer jacket which I have seen advertised on various sites.
And finally, some of the jackets seem to be Khaki and others seems to be like and OD green, which is the correct colour or were both colours used as i have seem the EM version in Khaki and the Officer version in OD.

There reason for the questions is that I am looking to purchase one but don't really want to be buying a poor repro and want to get the correct colour and ideally from the UK would be best if possible.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.......

 

[Trotsky]

I have two from What Price Glory and I believe they are the best. They wear quite nice and fit very well. I have had the chance to try on a Sportsmansguide and was not impressed in the least. From the color, the cut and the fit, everything was wrong.

 

[thunderw21]

WPG has good M41s, but for the money At The Front has excellent jackets.

Both 'green' and 'khaki' jackets are accurate, there was a large range of colors from different manufacturers. Fading also changes colors.
http://www.atthefront.com/khaki_4.jpg

I don't believe there is a difference between so-called 'enlisted' and 'officer' jackets. The officer reference might be to the longer arctic M-41 that had a longer body and arms.

 

[H.Johnson]

What size are you?

 

[BellyTank]

Officers version-

The "MiL-TECH, by Sturm" repro, which is widely available, claims;
"Regulation style U.S. Army Officers Field Jacket" on its label,
although it seems to be a copy of the regulation version.

The colour is OK, the style is OK but I think it has a "reversed" zip(the pin side and the box side of the zip closure are transposed, as compared to originals).
The shell cloth is, perhaps a little light. The lining is acrylic and has a twill weave. Buttons are correct.

I have seen much worse- actually, the worst was almost a kind of pea green shade and very lightweight cloth.

Speaking of "Officers versions", there were commercially available jackets that were very similar, I have one but it has patch pockets.


B
T

 

[H.Johnson]

I agree. The more recent Mil-Tech jackets are better than the early ones - the buttons are more like the originals. There's till the zip, though. The shell has the right weave but is, as BT says, a bit lighter than most originals I have seen. The lining lets the jacket down IMO. Like most repros, a bit more thought and effort would have made this a much better jacket.


A few years ago, I and a friend with whom I used to work in 'the rag trade' made a prototype of a M-41 repro that we hoped to put into production. We based the pattern on a war-time jacket but compared it to a Sturm jacket (from SoF) in the process. The Sturm jacket wasn't bad as a repro, except for the above. I don't count shade as originals fade and there was a wide range of colour anyway (see WPG's website). We fitted 'our' jacket with an original Crown zipper and original buttons. I still have it (somewhere) although it wasn't sized to fit me. I could be persuaded to sell it.

 

[BellyTank]

Let's see it.


B
T

 

[Marv]

Thanks for the responses guys.......a friend of mine has one from he got from SoF but I haven't seen it so can't comment on the quaility.
My size is a 46" reg and so like the ATF version but was hoping not to have to buy from the US as I will probably get shafted by UK Customs which could basically double the cost of the jacket or near abouts.
It was on the SoF website that I noticed the 2 different types EM and Officer with the EM being more Khaki and the Officer being more OD and there was a difference in price by about £15.
Also looked at the one on Epic Militaria whicg looked the same as the SoF version in OD and was slightly cheaper.

Not sure what to do about it at the mo.......

 

[MrBern]

pea-green or tan

As for the color...Since WPG advertises a photo of ClintEastwood wearing the jkt while filming Flags of Our Fathers, these jkts were of a color that would be most effective on screen, but not necessarily in real life. The movies are often desaturated to achieve a faded old-timey look. But the jacket is of a good,sturdy quality.

A lot of the original jackets look more like a traditional Khaki, but thats after some years of service in the sun. There is a similar dilemma w/ paratrooper jkts. They were often greenish when fresh issued, but faded to khaki.

The Sturm's reversed zipper bugs me, but the jacket isnt bad at all.

ATF has posted that he's working on a new & improved jkt. Also trying to source a more accurate zip.

Incidentally, ATF is having a sale on LONG sized M41 jkts. A great buy for tall customers.