What do you call this

[Nick Charles]

Robert Armstrong in the 1933 Kong, is wearing what looks like a suit coat with no arms, think they are ready made or does one just hack off the arms?

 

[Flitcraft]

I think that may be "field modified"- I've seen pictures of Great White Hunters from the '20's and '30's wearing sleeveless jackets like that- always figured they just took an old beat up jacket and hacked off the arms to still get some use out of it.

I don't know how familiar you are with military shooting jackets, but back in the day, they would often take an old uniform tunic, slit the back and maybe add a recoil pad and- voila!- instant range jacket. There's a mention of this in From Here To Eternity.

I figure maybe the early explorers/ hunters just did something similar.

 

[Matt Deckard]

For those who want ther sleeves out of the way... the shooting vest.

I've seen those before. It is as stated above a suit style jacket turned into a vest for the field. Gives you the pockets of a suit jacket and the coolness and mobility of a vest. You see them on hunters sometimes... something for the Safari set. Other ones I have seen have a leather patch or patches on the shoulders which are used to rest the butt of your rifle when shooting.

The one in King Kong is probably linen or cotton blend.
Here is a modern wool example.

 

[BellyTank]

I think many of them were purpose-built- the vintage equivalent of the modern 'Photographer's vest' and Hunting/Shooting vest.

B
T

 

[Baron Kurtz]

For those moments when even high arm scyes doesn't give enough maneuverability - cranking the film around the camera, firing a shotgun at a high-flying pheasant etc.

bk