TargetTalk

Current highpower shooter getting into smallbore, and am shopping for a coat and pants combo. I currently am using a creedmoor hardback coat, which obviously wont be legal in the future.

I was wondering what peoples experience was with various off the rack/standard size coats, and if anyone had any recommendations. Thanks.

No one else has replied thus far, so I will venture my humble opinion that Kurt Thune jackets are well made and, at least in the U.K., offer good value in their cheaper, off the peg versions.

I would say that the best one is the one that fits. If you can get your measurements taken as though you were ordering a custom suit, that may help narrow the field some. Of the measurements, shoulder width is most critical in the jacket, as it greatly affects fit and cannot be easily altered (just like in a business suit coat) and too long is preferable to too short in terms of sleeves and legs (easier to hem off material than to add.)

In terms of quality, the KT stuff I've seen (mats, pants, jackets, slings) are all very well made, and seem to stand up very well to use an abuse. My KT pants are on their third owner, and still stand up under their own power. IIRC they also have a wider range of off-the-rack sizes than others out there, including tall sizing. Finding their standard size stuff in the US may be tricky, though.

You can find local dealers from here: http://www.kurtthune.com/home.htm#

You could pay through the nose for a Kurt Thune and they are great coats. My suggestion though is to contact Champion Shooters Supply or Champions Choice. They both sell good coats that they have made. They are not too expensive and would be a good starting point. They are both easy to deal with too and would be happy to work with you until you get the right fit.

Personally, I would recommend Monard. When I was a sophomore in high school, I got a standard jacket and a starter pair of pants; and they fit great despite being a standard size. From my observations and experience, Monard offers a much better range of standard size adjustments then champion shooters or champions choice; personally I wouldn't recommend their smallbore jackets/pants to anyone; I just haven't been impressed with how they have fit most of the shooters I have seen. Now, I have nothing against Kurt Thune, in fact I am using an older set myself. In my opinion if you are looking for an intermediate pair of standard gear, Monard would be a good bet. I am sure Kurt Thune would be fantastic too, just depends on how much money you want to spend.

-Zach

As with most things in target shooting time spent in research is valuable time. Most of the recognised European shooting clothing manufacturers websites contain much information including measuring charts. I suggest that you print off all the charts you can find & read any accompanying information until you fully understand what they are asking for. Then get someone to measure you exactly as the instructions with/on the charts ask you to do. Do this 3 times to get an average measurement for all the required dimensions.
Then, for an off the peg jacket, refer to the chart of off the peg sizes to find the size which gets you closest to your measurements. You will probably have to compromise a bit here & there but in my experience you can get pretty close unless you are a very unusual shape. If you are going to shoot prone only then the most important areas to get correct are the fit across the shoulders, the arm lengths & elbow padding locations. Provided you can do up the top 2 (maybe 3 for some people) buttons the lower ones don't do anything in the prone position. If you are going to air rifle or 3 position shooting then the overall fit become equally important. A BIT too big is better than too small as a little extra tailoring can be used to improve the fit as can some thin extra clothing. If it is too small there is little that can be done unless you are prepared to lose weight.
Finally don't do what I have seen more than one person do is decide to get fitter (with the consequence of weight loss) so they can shoot better with the result that their new clothing (measured before the fitness campaign) no longer fits. Get to the fitness level or size you want to be BEFORE getting the clothing!

I've had great luck with this:

http://www.10pt9.com/Clothing/Standard- ... -p502.html