I'm moving the Blog!

Hello everyone,

I am moving the blog to a new site called Weebly.
Why? Well i feel like it was time for something new, and Weebly provides a new and exiting format for the blog.

I will keep this site running for a while, but all old posts have already been moved to the new site.
There will be no more new posts here, they will all be added to the new site.

Visit the New site Here:
http://surplusmania.weebly.com/

Thanks for reading
Chris

Swiss Rucksack 90

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The Pack:

History

The history of Swiss military gear is pretty straight forward. In 1957, they launched the TAZ 57 system, new jacket, new trousers, new pack, awesome! In 1983 they launched the TAZ 83 system, new jacket, new trousers, new pack, again pretty cool! Then in 1990 they launched the TAZ 90 system which looks like this:

Also new Jacket, new trousers and a new pack!
The Swiss military have experimented a lot over the years with their packs, and haven't really settled for one type, but rather gone in very different directions every time a new uniform system was issued.

In 1957 the pack was made from really soft and floppy cotton and the pack attached directly unto the combat jacket, this actually works surprisingly well, but more on that another day.
In 1983 the pack was made from heavy duty rubberized nylon with a skeleton of steel. This time the pack was 100% waterproof, but suffered because of the heavy weight.
Then in 1990 the Swiss made a hybrid of the two, taking the best features from the old and the new packs and combining them into a Pack that is both lightweight and waterproof.

I believe that the point of the TAZ 90 pack is to function as a travel bag, as all the photos and videos i have found of the Swiss Army never includes this sweet ass pack when the Swiss army is out on maneuvers. Take a look for yourself in this highly educational and serious documentary:

Onwards!

The Pack:

The Pack is made from some sort of "Wunder" material, it's feels like rubberized nylon but seems a bit more lightweight. It's also comfortable to the touch and seems really sturdy. 

The Pack in itself is just a square rubber box, with shoulder straps included. It does have some additional features that makes it extra sweet.

The first that you probably noticed is the web-like substance on the front, this is actually meant for keeping you helmet in place when out marching around, or when you are in transit, but as you can see, it works just as well as a place to keep my cooking-kit. AND as an added bonus it makes the pack look cool as Fack!

The web-shit opens with two regular, but heavy duty plastic buckles:

On the sides we have two of these babies:

Each of the pouches are about one liter, and my Nalgene Bottle fits snugly(Yeah that's right i said Snugly, deal with it) inside. The pouches closes with the "Spanish Fly" system which i really don't trust, as it almost seems like black magic. Nothing that opens this smoothly can possibly be secure: 

The back of the pack is not particularly well padded and combine this with the rubber material, you would, in any other case, have the recipe for a disastrous Pack, but the Swiss have got you back! Literally.  

This is strange to me, as this is usually the time where i start screaming about poor work ethics and what a shitty job the army did, but not this time! The Swiss are world renowned for their workmanship and you really get a feeling that someone actually thought this pack trough. 

So what the designer did was add this cushion-thing to the lower part of the pack. This keeps the pack feeling comfortable, and it allows for you to wear the pack without dying of dehydration! What a grand design! 

When the Swiss designed this pack there seems to have been one important issue that needed to be fixed: KEEPING SHIT FROM FALLING OUT 
Why do i say this? Well the main compartment of the pack is probably as secure as the color black as a fashion choice. let me run you through it:

Step one in KEEPING YOUR SHIT FROM FALLING OUT:
The lid. The lid seems pretty standard, and it is. It's a big flap, kept in place by two medium sized plastic buckles:

Step II:

The buckles. When you open the lid you are met by an amazing site. 

TWO! side flaps, buckled on the middle, AND a compression strap, also buckled in the middle, makes everything doubly secure. NOTHING is going to fall out of this pack. 

Step 3:

Insanity. As if the front flap, side flaps and compression strap wasn't enough for these Swiss bastards, they also added a Snow guard, which is also secured additionally by one of those things you press to make string go trough it:

And there you have it! Shit. kept. in. Place. 

The shoulder straps are perfect for the pack, and are well padded:

They are also attached to the bottom part of the pack with this really cool-looking, quick-release system, It's almost asking me to try and brake it, even though it knows i most certainly will fail:

So.. Uhh.. Anything, you know, Special?

Well, a couple of small things.

You have this strap:

Located on top of the pack, which looks really cool when you add a ton of Carbines to it!

Also!

On the either side of the pack are two compression straps, which are designed in such a way that they don't actually destroy the things in your pack, but just makes it more stable to wear.

Negatives:

One thing! Only one this time, but it's kinda big from a civilian point of view.
When you are in the army you tend to wear one of these things:

When a civilian, Not so much.. 

But being army issued, the pack has two of these things:

These are meant to be attached to your combat belt to take some of the load of your shoulders.
The system works really well, if you wear a combat belt, but if you don't, the straps are only going to be in the way.
This might seem like a tiny detail, but it irritates the shit out of me when i wear the pack.

Buy it. Where?

The pack was 9.90 Euros(13$ and 8£) at Raeer.com which is probably the best place to get one right know, if you live in Europe.

These seem to come and go on ebay, but i have seen them at the reasonable price of 6£(7 Euros or 10$).

But are priced at 30£(50$ or 36 Euros), this however is way to high of a price and you should never pay this much. The pack is pretty common in surplus stores, but being current issue, the stocks are not constant.

Verdict

I like this pack, it makes me happy. It radiates quality, and it can take a beating like a champ. It's almost entirely waterproof, and what ever stuff you put in it, is going to stay in it, trust me. 

The only negative is the additional load straps, but with a little modding these, can of course, be removed.

overall a really freaking awesome pack.

I give it five Swiss Soldiers Extraordinaire out of six. 

Thanks for reading
Chris

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Russian Veschmeshok

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The one and only, Veschmeshok!
Made famous by the Russian troops during World War 2:

Used during and after the coldwar:

Even today!

'

History:

The history of the Veschmeshok is kinda cloudy, as i have had no luck in finding any sources explaining when it was issued. BUT! i did find this picture:

In the picture are troops of the Imperial Russian Army, meaning pre. 1916 Russians, and the Veschmeshok is not on here. I have therefore concluded that it was not standard issue in the Russian army before, at least, the 1920's or 30's. 

The pack in it self is about as simple as it gets. When first issued it was just a plain, roughly spun, sack with a strap sewn to it. but as time went on, the Russian army decided to upgrade the old packs instead of developing new and wearable ones. "Why exchange shit, when you can just make it less shitty!?" seems to be the slogan of the Russian army in this case. 

The service record of this pack is quite impressive, i have to say. Serving with the Russian army for almost, or maybe even more, than a hundred years. Seeing action in almost every conflict since the Russian revolution. I can almost here the cry of one hundred years worth of Russian soldiers, shhh, listen closely and you might as well.. "WHAT THE F*** IS THIS!?"

The Pack:

So the pack i got is a modern version of the old classic, meaning it has some additional features that you won't find on the original, but i will get to those in a minute.

First and foremost, this is a sack, a rough cotton sack, but none the less, a sack:  

It is, as you can see, just a rectangular piece of cotton cloth, folded and sewn together in the sides. Where you then attach a long piece of cotton fabric to act as the shoulder straps in a rather ingenious way.

On the front of the pack, the Russians have made some additions to the original design.

They have added a small pocket, close-able with a standard button. the pocket is quite small and was probably added as a place to keep personal items, party papers, or maybe even a map! 

Below that you have a leather name-tag holder, covered in hard plastic. Which, unlike the one on the Polish combat pack, actually has water shedding capabilities.  

Carrying system.

Alright here we go. The carrying system is the one thing that actually makes the Veschmeshok kinda cool, and doesn't banish it to that very special place, where all the other terrible packs come to die, and probably also the reason for its long service record:

So the carrying strap is sort of "tied" around the top. This, in it self, sound pretty simple, but the ingenious part is this: when tied correctly, the knot becomes tighter the more pressure is added to the straps, meaning that it doesn't open when you carry it around and spill all your stuff out on the ground, and when you wanna open it, it's really easy! This is so fricking ingenious! Had the inventor of this not been living in the soviet union, he would have made dozens of rubles!

Extra Features:

I have 3 things for you, one of them a little tame, so lets start with that!!! WUUUHH!

The designer added some pretty rough string, as a means of closing the pack before attaching the shoulder straps! Facking awesome! What a great blog this is! Always pushing the limits of what you can and cannot write about string on the internet! Moving on..

At some point the Russians decided that the troops didn't have to carry their blankets across their chests as they had been doing for centuries, but might as well carry them on the pack, and thus the side straps were introduced into the glorious soviet empire! These are in all seriousness actually pretty rugged and really useful, as they can be tightened a lot, so you'll be able to carry, for example, an ax with you, if Ya Want To.

Final thing is the sternum strap, which is so good its terrible. I'll explain. The shoulder-straps are padded, wide, and overall pretty good. The Sack is without back support, and there is a bigger possibility of you packing it wrong than right, overall it's below average. The Sternum strap is wide, has a great tightening mechanism and is probably the best made thing on the pack. BUT WHAT IS THE PROBLEM!! GET TO THE POINT! I will. The strap is too good for this pack, and that makes it terrible. because of the built of the pack, the strap will end up being more of a nuisance than a help. Had the pack had some back support and some stiffer shoulder-straps it would have worked way better. At least that's what i think.

What's Bad then?

Well, this pack is one of those packs that you either love or hate. The simplicity and rustic appearance may appeal to many of you old school bushcrafters, who just want functionality and don't care about ridicules details. 

On the other hand the general shit-look of the pack might also appeal to the so called "hipster" community who have begun raiding my beloved army surplus stores. Shout out to the hipster community by the way: "GET AWAY FROM THE SURPLUS STORES, THEY ARE MINE, ALL MINE!!! I WILL CUT YOU!"

On the third hand, which you have if you have ever lived near a "clean source of energy", the modernist probably hate this thing for NOT being any of the following things: Waterproof, Watershedding, comfortable, filled with details, pretty, modern, and so on.

In conclusion: You either love or hate it, and if i find a hipster at my local surplus store, it's not gonna be pretty..

Price?

Got mine on Raeer.com for 8.90 Euros(12$ or 7£)

On ebay they generally go for below 10£(12 Euro or 16$)

This a cool pack and if you get the chance, get one, but don't pay more than 10£, please, don't.

Verdict:

I like it. I like the closing mechanism, i like the appearance, i like the few functions, it's all really fine and dandy, but the comfort of the thing is utter shit. But as i have said multiple times, i review these things with heart, not mind, so i give this pack Five Russian super-soldiers out of Six! 

Thanks for reading
Chris

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