TargetTalk

I'm going to buy new shooting clothes and I got interested in Monards Super Extended suit.

Why I thinking of buying just that set of clothes is because they are cheaper than Kurt Thune and Monard says that the clothes should hold for up to 20 years with my amount of use.

So does anybody have any opinions about this set of clothes or even use them yourself?

Due to all of the recent ISSF rule changes, I personally would wait a little longer before purchasing something that costs a lot of money.

Personally, I have never used this jacket myself, but the monard super extended suit was used to win gold at Beijing, so, quality wise, it should be comparable to the kurt thune suits, or any high-end suit for that matter.

In Sweden we are going to have a 4 year transition period to the clothing rules. The other rules adopts next year.

I don't compete internationally yet so I should not have any problem in 4 years. The only thing on these clothes that could violate any rule is the seam on the left side and that depends on were you rest your elbow.

Both my teammate and I have the Monard super extended shooting suits. The quality is great; the proliner material keeps its stiffness well. After 3 years of fairly heavy use (15-20 hours a week) I can tell no difference in the stiffness of the proliner. The canvas in the pants has softened a bit but that is to be expected being it is bent and flexed repeatedly in 3-p, but it still gives good support. As for the seam under the support arm, both my teammate and I checked after the new rules came out because we were worried, but both jackets checked out fine. The seam was 3+ inches (7+ cm) below our elbows. It appeared that it would take a substantial amount of body distortion to get ones elbow to hit the seam. As for the fit on the suits, mine fits perfectly, my teammates on the other hand is cut wrong (to large) on the support arm shoulder (I think he made a measurement mistake on his order form). I would buy this suit again if I ever needed to, it will likely last many more years.

jgrinolds,
Thank you very much for a good answer. One follow up question though, is it any warmer in a suit with Proliner than with canvas?

The Proliner is noticably warmer than ordinary canvas suits that I have used. Depending upon how well your body handles heat and the environment in which you shoot it may become an influencial factor. I don't handle heat well ( I come from an area that averages -10 degrees F (-23 C.) for 5-6 months a year) and I was able to overcame most of the increased heat by switching from Monard shooting undersuit to Underarmour heatgear and instead of a full shooting sweater, I know use just the Monard shirt. I find it provides plenty of cushioning and the monard suit fits so well that a heavy sweater is not needed to take up extra room. To conclude my answer Proliner is warmer than canvas but it is overcomeable and if you body handles heat well you would probably have no problem with it.

I shoot in temperatures from early in the season around 0 degrees celsius and in the summer up to 25-30 degrees celsius. From september to may I shoot indoors and the temperature is around 20 degrees celsius.

I don't like heat so much. Shooting in temperatures above 20 degrees is a sweaty business for me.

Currently I use a thin undersuit in 100% polyester and a anschutz shooting sweater on top.

Do you feel that the positive effects outweigh this negative thing with the suit beeing warmer?

Do the positives out way the negatives? This depends a bit on financial means, if you have money to buy new suits every 4-5 years then you may not think the extra warmth is is worth putting up with. If you are like me and a custom suit is a major investment then having a suit that will last years longer will probably out ways the temperature increase. With the temperatures that you listed you will probably not have much problems with the suit. Our indoor ranges seem to average 22 degrees Celsius and outdoors in the summers easily above 37 degrees Celsius. I usually don't have a problem with the suit till temperature above 24 degree celsius. Also the body adapts to the higher temperatures the more you train in them. Also having a suit that stays stiff longer allows you to have a more consistent amount of support over the years of training and competing. Having the same suit longer that is still stiff keeps you from having to get a new suit and then go through the breakin time and getting comfortable with the new suit period. That period can take months and thus could result in poorer scores for a period. If you have a chance I would recommend looking at a super extended suit to get a feel for the material, it is quite different form canvas.

Yes it's a major investment for me too. It was the extended "lifetime" of the suit that got me interested in the first place, otherwise I would go with the regular super.

I have no possibility to check up on the material without going on a long trip and that too costs money.

I think I go with the Super Extended, I haven't read any negative things about it and most people seems to clear the seam with the supporting elbow in standing.

And who knows, after Swedens 4 years adaption time the rules could have changed again.