Russian Gear Discussion

[Wingmann]

I currently own two: One SPOSN Partizan-M and a recently bought Tactic-9 Anglia cut Jagiel oversuit. The Partizan-M is fantastic, not as heavy as a Gorka, but well made and very resistant, plus reversible in true colours. The Anglia is thinner (you can easily see through against light) but the material seems to be resistant enough, and the print is well done. Sizing is a bit bigger than its SSO counterpart, but it's to be expected from an oversuit of this kind. The camo pattern is very good for our typical forest fields.

[sigma3]

I own both of those as well. Sadly my Partizan-M never gets used, even though I love it. I also have a mountain flora set, Gorka-S, and a few more oddball patterns. And a KLMK, which I don't care for because even at size 3 it's too small for me, which has resulted in all the buttons popping off at one point or another. That and the basically total lack of pockets make it not my favorite, although the creepy sex mask is nice.

I'm not entirely sure what your question is... sounds like you want something comfortable that works for tan side. You're not going to find a lot of that from Russia. Here in SoCal we have this same problem and decided Jagiel was the best fit that we could justify in actual use from pictures of our unit. The new 6sh122 suits would probably be perfect for you, but they're still pretty hard to find!  Sumrak suits (not pattern) would be good as well I imagine, and also reversible (to basically just a more muted side). It does bother me that the Jagiel is basically printed white on the interior... I know these are for more northern units so I don't know if that's intentional or just cost-saving.

[Gunmane]

Ah, not really a question, just asking folks thoughts on what they have.  I only commentated on the tan bit since that is often an issue at games (when a fellow Ruskie gets placed on the other side simply because their top is off or for numbers balance).

 

Wingmann, I am surprised to hear Anglia suit being thinner, I always heard it was rather thicker than partizan suits.

[Wingmann]

Wingmann, I am surprised to hear Anglia suit being thinner, I always heard it was rather thicker than partizan suits.

 

I'll try to take a picture of it for you.

[Bloodsword]

Anglia is a bit thicker than the normal Partizan suit. Partizan is quite close to paper thin, this is a good thing in the hot summer days.

[Wingmann]

I was comparing with my Partizan-M, not the regular Partizan.

 

In thickness they go more or less like this: Canvas Gorka mountain suit > Partizan-M suit > Anglia maskalat > Partizan maskalat.

[Skarclaw]

TBH oversuits are oversuits. The newer ones are better then the soviet ones, obviously.

 

If I were you I'd keep what I have for when you are on green team. Get some of these for when you are on tan:

 

https://grey-shop.ru/Camouflage/Summer-Clothes/Full-Russian-Army-Syrian-Set

 

 

Or maybe you could get some Desert DPM UBACS  (I say DDPM because its a bit "different" to US desert etc) and do a "Slavonic Corps" type thing, as per:

 

 

http://www.interpretermag.com/the-last-battle-of-the-slavonic-corps/ 

[sigma3]

Oversuits totally aren't oversuits, though. There's massive differences in weight, design, and build quality.

[chas]

Anyone bought from this shop? https://grey-shop.ru/index.php?route=common/home

 

They seem to have a lot of stuff (for my narrow understanding of russian gear, alright), prices seem fair.

 

Also, would appreciate any other store recommendations, don't even mind replica gear.

 

Im going for this look: http://h10.abload.de/img/15ooo.jpg

[DarkLite]

I've bought from Grey. They're good, but my stuff took three weeks to leave the shop despite me paying extra for EMS. Also, some of their gear is replica and it's not always clear which bits are and which bits aren't.

[sigma3]

Yeah, there's far more reliable and upfront sellers you can work with. Here's a couple, wish there were more I could truly recommend...

http://www.frontowiec.com (great seller, but their stock is often disappointing)

http://www.profarmy.com (still has the problem of you have to do your own homework on exactly what you're ordering though, and translate from Russian, and use WU or other money order)

Even better is some of the private/ebay sellers like Valery seawolf. They usually have tons of good stuff sitting around and, much better, can get you what you request personally. There are of course many more, most of whom are very active on Red Alliance. Don't buy replica gear, it's not worth it.

FYI, that picture is Ukrainian, not Russian. It gets posted a lot because it's a badass kit. Picture is probably from 2012 or so.

[hitmanNo2]

Is that the gear you have to bleach yourself to get that shade?  I looked into it a while ago as it is very cool.

[Dimitri MdP]

Grey Shop is the most reliable retailer for anything Russian. Specially since Gorgoth joined the team (used to work at Kamuflage.ru) 

Simple Paypal checkout, no hidden costs, lots of delivery options, ginormous stock, great communication, and the website is in perfect English and extremely well categorised. Did I mentioned they use Paypal checkout with no hidden costs???

The only downsides are that prices can be high on some items, and sometimes they might take too long to ship. 

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In my experience, ProfArmy is the cheapest, but also a major league PITA to work with, unless you live in Russia, or at least have extremely good Russian language skills. Their English skills makes the median Chinese retailer look like a dictionary editor,  it's impossible to ask them anything. Their website work like *suitcase*, you won't be able to set the desired amount of items in most browsers.  They ship whenever they feel like, they charge really high extra costs on shipping and handling for no reason whatsoever, they don't accept Paypal and the Russian counterpart they use usually won't work with your credit card and no one will explain why.. So you'll have to use Wester Union, and depending where you live, that might have astronomical commissions. 
And they even separate shipping in individual packages without even knowing what they have in each, which can cause major trouble with some Customs.

Still they are my go-to supplier (can't beat those prices) but man, they are really, really hard to work with. 
 

[Dimitri MdP]

Im going for this look:

everybody goes for that look when they start to set their Russian loadouts. Can't blame them, I did it myself cause it looks really, really badass. 

 

But as soon as you take off the helmet, it looses most of the charm. And I don't think you are going to be comfortable playing with a $500 ($200 for the replica), 3.6kg neck-breaking K6-3 helmet  

 

The uniform is a combination of Blokpost Gorka-4 jacket and Blokpost Gorka-3 trousers. Which will be hard and expensive to find.  Easier and cheaper is the gorka-3 by BARS, but it doesn't look that good.

That being said, I wouldn't recommend a gorka at all. They won't provide warm in the winter, they are not waterproof, and they'll quickly dehydrate you if trying to use it in anything above 15ºC.  They are great for what they are designed for: a windproof, protective layer for mountain troops ("gorka" is Russian for "mountain"). But that's about it.

I've used and suffered it for years until I decided no amount of "looking good" was worth all the pain.

 

As for the webbing, bear in mind that's not a regular SMERSH as most people think, but a Partizan Sbruya harness (or perhaps SMERSH PLCE). Finding one will be extremely hard and crazy expensive (400-500usd) as it is a reenactor / collectors item. You could try the IRT replica, but it's a $250 piece of equipment still. If you can afford it, by all means go for it. The standard SMERSH might be cheaper, but it doesn't distribute the weight nearly as good, and it has velcro instead of the silent clutches,so your opponents will hear you from miles away when trying to reload. 

 

-------------------

 

If you are willing to consider alternative loadouts, I would suggest going a completely different route and getting a standard Russian Army set, starting from a VKBO "digi flora" uniform + a 6sh112  / 6sh116 / 6sh117 vest.  It's way more comfortable and practical for the game, and the camouflage works extraordinarily well in the field.

 

[sigma3]

Gotta disagree on a couple points: first, I know enough people (a LOT of people) who have been screwed over by Greyshop in the past year or so that I can't possibly suggest anyone ever use them until they've demonstrated a SIGNIFICANT improvement for a sustained period of time. Their organization and either competence or honesty (I'm not sure which is worse) seem to be lacking.

Second, if you use them in the weather they're designed for, gorkas are awesome. I've used mine in some of the wettest gaming conditions, and Dimitri is right: they're not waterproof. They're not going to keep you dry over hours of rain like a real goretex jacket will (maybe). But they will keep you warm and dry for quite a while of semi-wet (dew, light rain, etc), and they are extremely comfortable. I've also worn it backpacking in the desert, and it's excellent there as well. Finally, I've worn it in an absolute monsoon downpour, and if you're only exposed to that kind of thing for a limited time (say half an hour or less) then you'll be a happy camper. Don't wear them in the heat, yeah... but that should go without saying. Of course, there's probably also a quality difference in the various brands. Ours are SPOSN; I've never worn a BARS or the other, even worse, brands firsthand.

[vorpalbunnie]

Yeah I have heard horror stories about grey-shop too, but they certainly have their successes. I'll personally stick to facebook users and groups, as the market is so good right now. Someone was selling fully plated D2s for $400! A few years ago that was unheard of. I would never have expected facebook to be so useful for finding gear.

 

 

everybody goes for that look when they start to set their Russian loadouts. Can't blame them, I did it myself cause it looks really, really badass. 

 

Also if I remember correctly it's actually a Ukrainian in the picture.

 

[renegadecow]

That being said, I wouldn't recommend a gorka at all. They won't provide warm in the winter, they are not waterproof, and they'll quickly dehydrate you if trying to use it in anything above 15ºC.

Just to point out, a summer Gorka alone will be poor against winter. There are however winter variants which are fleece lined. They also come from the factory with a water repelling coating. Had to struggle with mine for a while during laundry as it just refuses to get soaked. After a few washes though and the coating wears off so up to you if you want to reapply with commercial water repelling products. And agreed on the heat. Absolutely the dumbest purchase I've ever made considering where I live.

[Dimitri MdP]

 Don't wear them in the heat, yeah... but that should go without saying.

Well, I would agree with that, but I have seen people literally fainting trying to use them at 30ºC.  People will go idiotic ways just for the "looking cool" factor. 

As for the wetness, a gorka weighs in excess of 2kg when dry... when those things get wet they weight a ton. It's not only the rain, sometimes it's your own sweat, as these things don't breathe at all. And don't even try crossing a river, having the pants wet just knee high you'll feel like you have doubled your body weight for the rest of the day.

 

Don't get me wrong, they are extremely comfortable for some uses. Like anything in the mountain (trekking, bushcraft).Heck, I'm wearing a gorka pant right now, as it is pretty much the most comfortable pants ever just to lay around in my home. I even wore the gorka pants to work almost daily when building stages for live shows, and the gorka jacket is still my go-to demiseason everyday jacket (when not using the pants ) And I still use their suspenders for any uniform, never going back to a belt as long as I live.

 

But imho they are just not good for the average airsoft game, or at least, there are better options. Any regular ripstop army uniform works better for me. The VKBO summer uniform with the different underwear layers and the rainsuit got me covered for 99% of the year.

 

That was the point in my comment. Gorkas look cool, but there are a gazillion other options for Russian loadouts, and most of them adapt better to our game.

 

Also if I remember correctly it's actually a Ukrainian in the picture.

Indeed. I didn't point that out as it was already mentioned by sigma3. Ironically it is probably still the #1 reference "Russian Loadout" pic for beginners.

[Gunmane]

That splinter gorka e just reminds me of how many patterns on gorka e I've wanted over the years.

 

Honestly, I think the only reason my old gorka e has worked for me in winter is because I generate a lot of heat/have Chewbacca hair.  Naturally I have clothes underneath and prepare spares back when I used to snowsoft (it kinda died down here).  It remains now my early snow shoveling suit/spare in case my old DDR winter FDA is still drying.  Loved wearing the top during my college days in the fall.

 

A few weekends back I ran into the local RR chapter wearing Anglia suits (one wearing the top over gorka pants interestingly enough) and it was somewhat baffling how well it fit the particular field we were at.  I somehow managed to get lost for some folks in my KLMK at the same time, think it had to do with all the green with sunlight filtering down through the trees.  Sadly I don't have any pics to share.

 

I honestly liked my old flora set, it just didn't really fit (and certainly doesn't now).  Sometimes I think about seeing if I can loosen up the pant's stitching a bit.  I think my other thing with bdu sets was trying to fit makeshift collar liners on (I am horrible with a needle).

 

As for getting stuff, most of mine was either through contacts or from forum sales that are stateside.  I don't really associate with facebook, so I miss out on photos at games and getting involved with groups.

[hitmanNo2]

Are any sites covering this 'Russian Defense Drill' that's going on at the moment?  I'm intrigued to see what a 40 million person exercise looks like.

[DarkLite]

I have a SPLAV Gorka 4 in Tibetarn and a BARS Gorka 3 in olive and I've got to say, I *fruitcage* love them in the winter months. I wear them with underarmour long johns/compression top and a surplus UK norgi shirt and they keep me lovely and warm.

[Wingmann]

You guys should try Splav's Gorka 5. It's quite better in the wet, lighter and modern.

 

I'll stick to canvas stuff

[sigma3]

Really?  I typically think of Splav as "the Condor of Russia" but haven't ever seen their Gorka.

Dimitri... we're on the same page now. 

Was itching for my jager suit this past weekend in Missouri. US woodland worked pretty well but jager would have absolutely disappeared.

[Wingmann]

Really?  I typically think of Splav as "the Condor of Russia" but haven't ever seen their Gorka.

I sold mine to a team mate because of the materials, since I prefer rougher cotton style to newer -more delicate but better performing- cloths.

But if you are into modern materials it's probably the most different of them all. Pants/jacket are sold separatedly for about $80 each, so it's also on the expensive side of gorkas.

 

 

[Revengeful_Lobster]

I'm looking into a Gorka 3 for winter but I'm a bit distrusting of most sites that sell them. I managed to get a great deal and decent service from Profarmy when I got my Sumrak back in the spring, but since then they stopped accepting international payments via credit/paypal.