ASMC

[BaltimoreCS]

I had to attend a wedding in Germany, and made the drive down to Saarbruecken and Heiligenwald in Southern Germany to the ASMC store. It is just shy of a 2 hour drive from Frankfurt, but that depends a lot on traffic (I wend during the week, during mid-day.) I have seen ASMC online, but have not ordered from them before (and still have not made an online order from them.)

 

I first went to the Saarbruecken store, the "new" store, which is really a warehouse with a lobby that you can buy from. It is above Sixt, and you have to park behind the building (it's not actually on Am Halberg.) You tell them what you want and then wait while they go and get it. They have lots of catalogs about (over 600 pages) but it takes time to go through them if you haven't before. I took some time, and picked out what I wanted, but they did not have some of the items (schneetarn and Vegetato Desert). They told me that I should drive 20km to their HQ, which is in Heiligenwald. Staff was very helpful and friendly, and patient with my bad German.

 

I had a little trouble finding the HQ because it is listed with a street address of "Geweberpark Klinkenthan 55" but this is really a commercial/industrial park building number. The GPS in my BMW did not know where it was, but from looking on the web site, I was able to put in "Itzenplitzestrasse" and it got me to the area. The intersection of "Itzenplitzestrasse" and Bildstock had a sign for ASMC, and I was able to locate them. It is another warehouse with a lobby and large counter. There I again encountered helpful staff (Americans even work there!) They had everything but were out of the TacGear Schneetarn Smock in Large. I was able to see an XL size, but it's way too big for me.

 

The clothing I picked up was a set of Desertico Vegetato, a set of reproduction Vietnam OD fatigues, and a French Commando fleece in 3-color desert.

 

The Vegetato Desert is in the ACU cut and is the EI (regular Italian army issue) version. The other type is the CB-62, which I can only find at SOD gear. It seems to be of average quality ripstop (not too heavy and stitching isn't all over the place like some Asian uniforms that I have.) Several other retailers sell what looks like the same thing (Expo Army.) Note that they do not have any head wear in Vegetato Desert.

 

The Vietnam OD fatigues are the slant pocket type and also made of average quality ripstop.

 

The fleece jacket is the nicest, but it's almost 40 degrees here, so I'm not going to wear it any time soon. I just liked the fact that it matches my 3-color kit and has padded shoulders.

 

Overall, customer service was great. They got a lot of items for me to look at when I said I wanted to compare and try on some items. I have not fielded any of the gear or clothing that I bought, but I will post again when I do. Quality of the items ranges from 20.00 EUR shirts to the 199 EUR TacGear smock.

 

http://www.asmc.de/content/en/Shops.html

[Mat]

Been using these guys for a couple of years via mailorder, they're fantastic, their stock control is great, as is their customer service. I also love the fact that once you have registered, it retains your shopping basket for ever, unless you delete an item. Website has good English language, although catalogue and catalogue screenshots used on the website are in German only. It is one of the few companies I can 'hand on heart' say, I've never had a problem with.

 

They do have a 50 euro minimum order on all mailorder though.

 

If you're doing a big order make sure you buy one of their discount cards, you can buy them in 10%, 15 and 20% off for a year. I've bought 20% twice now and they're useable on the order you buy them. My last order paid for the entirety of the card and saved me about 20 euro, so shopping for the rest of the year is all 20% off for me and even if I don't place another order... I still saved money. Their catalogue is dangerous, once you own one you will spend too much time finding things you 'need'. The airsoft stuff seems a little over-priced, but that's not an issue for me as I buy in my home country. They have a good range of proper military gear and even have a few handy bits for re-enactment.

 

Also, most importantly of all, if you're buying German Military gear http://www.asmc.de/content/en/Size-Charts.html they have a complete set of size comparrison charts