Garrisons and crushers...who makes the best repro's?

[Blackjack]

In your guys vast experiences, what company out there makes the best repros? I'm looking for a German grey garrison, and a US crusher. Any advice??

 

[Baggers]

By "German grey garrison," are you referring to the M1934 or 38 model feldmutzes worn by the German Army, or what?

If so, try Lost Battalions.

Cheers!

 

[scotrace]

I got just da ting

How 'bout a really nice, WWI sort of cap?

Cheap.

lol

 

[Zemke Fan]

BlackJack

We've been down this road a bunch of times before!

See: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=10223

General consensus is the Lancaster crusher made in USA and sold by various vendors, including WWII Impressions. (Where I got mine.)

 

[Blackjack]

has anyone had any experience with LOST BATTALIONS. Quality? Service??

 

[Baggers]

Lost Battalions has an excellent reputation within the reenactor community and are generally considered to be the "go to" business for U.S. made German uniforms. They're expensive, but their stuff is museum quality. I've bought several items from them in the last year or so. In particular, a DAK uniform and most recently their officer's M38 and M43 feldmutzen for a short film I costumed. All are excellent quality. As for their service, I can't comment on their mail order as I live within easy driving distance and just give them a call to see if they have what I'm looking for and then drop by to pick it up. Ray is the person I usually deal with and he is very helpful.

Cheers!

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

I ordered my wool and HBT German uniforms from Lost Battalions and they are great. Just make sure you talk to Ray, he is the one with the handle on what they have in stock and will get it to you quickly.

As for German caps, for the dress "shirmutze" type there is also someone (in Germany or China, not sure which) making them. They are good quality reproductions, and stamped "Erel" as the maker. I have an SS enlisted one, here is a picture of it.

 

[Baggers]

That's a great looking crusher style shirmutze, Vladimir. At the risk of hijacking this thread, I've been thinking about picking up a Heer officer's "old style" M34 visored field cap, but would prefer not to spend the big bucks. Do you have any opinions on the ones offered by Barry Lyndon on that well known auction site?

Cheers!

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

It looks like he is offering the same "made in Germany" visor caps such as the one I have. I got mine in person from Bunker Militaria in Houston, and they had a wide range of different types such as you see on ebay I was able to inspect in person.

In my personal opinion, the shirmutze caps look pretty good. They are not perfect but they are close. The crusher caps I saw (both SS and heer) I was not as impressed with. They are basically just regular shirmutze pattern caps with no chinstrap and a soft leather visor. Maybe after some field wear they would look better, I don't know. They are not incorrect, I just think the pattern is a bit off of what looks best in that sort of cap.

 

[Baggers]

I hear what you're saying. But for much less (possibly even including shipping) than of the price of the caps offered by the major domestic vendors, I might be willing to take a chance that with a bit of work one could be made to look closer to what I've seen in photos from the period. Admittedly the majority of the headgear I've seen offered by him and his major competitor are a bit "off" in shape, but to their credit they always seem to be making improvements to their stock. While not museum quality, they would probably make good economical pieces for film use and running around in the woods.

For only fifty bucks I may take a chance and see what I can do. Add an eagle and do some shaping, who knows?

Cheers!

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

I agree that shaping is key. If I had one of his crushers I would really want to break the stiffener thing in the crown, and then work the headband area until it is nice and soft. I bet doing that alone would improve the look 100%.

 

[Baggers]

Thanks, just what I needed to know.

(Cue theme music from The Outer Limits)
We now return control of your thread to you.

Cheers!