Ghillie suit raw
notes
Excerpts from Snipers
"Moss
Jute", It's thicker than regular burlap, and jute twine, and I gotta tell you IT"S THE ****!!!!! Man I can't wait til I get back from this job to dye some of it up, Mike at www.tacticalconcealment.com
Steve,
when making ghillies this is what Ive
found to my liking...
I add the
Moss Jute provided by Mike Stanchik at
www.ghillie.net to the vertical sections of different squares in varying
sections sometimes 2-4 inches, sometimes 6-8 inches...
After I
"weather it in" I will come back and lay it out and make sure there
are no bare spots or highlights that can be seen.
It's very important to keep in mind the
60/40 rule. 60% natural vegetation, 40% man made. A
Ghillie should be sparsely covered with burlap for a couple of good reasons ....
1. You never know what your surroundings will look like.
2. Colors change with the seasons no matter where your
at.
3. Sparsely covering your ghillie makes it smaller
more compact more mobile.
1.It
doesn't really matter how many strands you tie on any given square, the norm is
generally 4-6, but keep in mind that if you do the suit with 4 strands of jute
of equal length, you will be defeating one of nature's primary values, in that
nothing is the same, i.e. vary the number of strands, vary the length of the
strands. This will help you keep the randomness...
2. I personally use a stirrup made from 550/para cord. other
people use other things...
3. Generally speaking you shouldnt be able to see the
netting, however opinions may vary. It stands to reason that on any edge or end
of netting on your salad suit, where overlap is crucial, your strands should be longer, maybe as much
as 12-16 inches, so when split in half as you tie it, you'll have 6-8 inches of
lay down...
UV Paint on a ghillie??
It covers the glue, because the glue is shiney.
Also the glue will break down from UV. I
don't glue my netting on. Sew the entire lot. No glue, no UV paint.
used
shoe goo like everyone said to attach the codura to the front, knees and elbows
The BDUs should be large enough to slip over your normal BDUs. This gives you both wiggle room to get out of them in
a hurry and room for hydration systems and other items
of gear you may want under them.
You can get away with
anchoring your netting evey 4-5 inches and not get to
much sag. I prefer 2 inches myself but I get the para
loft to do the sewing, so my fingers remain un
wounded. Loose netting will sag and possibly show your base BDU along with
catching on brush and such.
On the subject of BDUs, I've used the 6 color DCUs for the past few suits. The lighter desert colors tend
to mute the shadow effect on your chest whil prone, a
lot like a deers belly. If the light colors are to
stark you can tone them down with some spray paint, I did my skid plate leaving
the area around it normal. This gave me three layers of colors helping to break
up the front view.
the military guys prefer canvas to cordura crawl
pads 'cause they say they're quieter.
custom
ghillie mfg's, Ronin
Tactical ('Squatch), High Speed Gear, LBT, Custom
Concealment, etc, and everyone uses cordura. And the
military guys will probably keep using canvas. I can see where it's easier to work
with when building one by hand.
I use a
piece of 'desert' shooter's veil cut with arm strips as a cape,(held to elbows with spandex tape.) My PC has more veil
that covers neck and face,(to avoid that window frame
in the front)with small painted fishin split shot to
resist the wind. I have a square hemmed with more spandex to cover the ruck, I attached puffballs of burlap,(I
call em spiders) to everything includin
my JBE. The Veil mesh makes ready made veggie attachment points. Clumps of
grass, if thats what I am
in, are attached by small brown rubber bands shoved through the mesh. Its light
and very breathable, the complete set fits in my butt bag. I use cheap camo gloves I found at walmart.
This wont hide you at close range or if bein observed at 100Yds through a spotter's scope. You cant lay out in the open with it, but with a little care in terrian selection it does mask the human form. I doubt it
will be very popular but it is very simple, cheap and easy to attach to
whatever I have on. I can stuff several different colors into the same bag a
traditional suits fills up.(n I dont
fry in the Okie sun)
BURLAP...
someone once told me, use a whole pack of yellow RIT dye and add just about a
half teaspoon of green and the color will be perfect for the northeast in
summer... he was right.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here we go focusing attention on the least used piece of sniper
gear again. It is good therapy to work on a Ghillie, like weaving baskets only
baskets are used even less.
If you cut a square of burlap and strip out both the warp
and the woof then bundle those strings into groups of 12 -15 before tying onto
the Ghillie you will have zero waste and very small tight knots.
Aside from the waste associated with tying strips to the Ghillie
the short strings will eventually fall out and be left behind providing
tracking clues. Burlap is a sure sign of a sniper.
The following are excerpts from an email sent to me by
an active USMC
Scout/Sniper, bold yellow are items of interest, italics yellow items are my
edits
I personally like a two piece suit
you don't always need the whole thing.
Plus easier to use the bathroom or strip in a hurry. I used a set of Cammies. Make sure your suit is big enough for you
to wear clothes under it for cold weather and it makes it easier to get
out of in case you need to do it on the run or you fall into water and need to
get it off in a hurry.
For starters I put padding in the knees and elbows I just unstiched the double layers
and stuffed some isomat I could use mouse pad material in
there and restiched it. Keep the pockets on there I didn't and regreeted it later.
You can put pockets on the inside or on the shoulders or even on the
lower back so you can reach it while in the prone. I put vents in the legs behind the
knees and on the middle of the back. I could
also add a vent under the arms Just cut a hole and sow a mosquito net over it
to allow ventilation. Make
sure you have netting that is small enough so fire ants won't get in
there! My first stalk I learned that.
For the front I used some cot material that I bought.
You want something that will help you slide on the ground and protect
the cammies from ripping as easy. I used shoe goo
the attach it. Some people
sow it. But shoe goo
works fine. I used a cargo net for the back of a pickup for my netting to attach
to. A hammock will work also. I attached it with zip ties to the trousers. I used the seams I could use grommets instead of just the seams of
the pants a shirt to zip tie the netting around. Other wise it will rip easier. For the burlap I like using all tan. You can always darken it but you can never
lighten it if you use greens or dark browns.
To darken just spray paint it once you got it on there. I got my burlap form Walmart
or Home depo in the garden department they
sell like a 2 by 25 foot roll of it. Cut it into 2 foot pieces then strip it into sling strans. This is what takes the longest amount of time
and is messy. Once you got it stripped
take a small amount maybe 25 strans and ties it on to
the netting.
At the bottom you don't want it to hang below your boots
and stop it at the ass pockets. I have seen people sew
the netting on which ever you want will be ok.
To hold the netting up in the rear on the trousers I just
tied some cord to a belt loop and the netting to hold it up. On the top make it hang down low enough to
cover any bare spots. You
don't really want any netting on the firing side shoulder but can
put some on the non firing side. At the end of the arms attach a loop of cord or string to the button
hole to slide your thumb into so it don't ride up your arm while crawling.
For the hat some people like to use it to hide you and part of the gun
once in position if so a ball cap or cover is one way. Put the netting and burlap on the bill side
and wear it backwards while walking so the netting hangs behind you. Once in position turn it … I used a boonie
and cut the front part of the bill so there is no shadow. Boonies are easier to tie stuff to. I have seen people cut out the top of the boonie and attach mosquito net to it. It all depneds on
what weather you you wil
wearing it most.
VERY IMPORTANT. Before you wear it in the field you must get
it dirty. Nothing in Nature looks like a
new ghillie.
Take it out and find a mud puddle.
Drag it, stomp it, and soak it in mud.
Let it dry then hose it off some if you want to. Usually it takes a few times to get it good a
dirty. Liek I
said you can then spray paint some brown or green on it if need to. Happy Hunting.
Notes:
Remove collar from shirt
Stirrups on arms and legs – paracord?
Velcro on legs to aid in getting on/off over boots
Vents on shirt back, pits, and legs – use mosquito
netting
Buy burlap locally, extra spray paint to carry to the AO
Double the canvas on the elbows and knees
Bundle burlap strings into groups of 12-15 b4 tying to
Ghillie
Cut the right arm short on the jacket, vent the
underarms, vent the back
Use hemp rope to add body