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I just bought a very similar looking but smaller pouch probably likely a compass pouch. It has an identical belt fastening same colour same material and a simple press stud / velcro fastener. it feels like it is padded with foam, it has a drain hole the only marking is faint it's a 35 mm wide circle, inside the circle (with a "crows foot" arrow at the base) is the following: "C.W. 3 38566" Although the pouch appears to be unused the store stamp numbers are very faint and difficult to tell apart especially the 8,6,and 3 so the numbers might be slightly wrong. The pouch is 100mm tall, 40mm deep, and 60mm wide. Have I managed to get a trials 58 pattern nylon compass pouch? I don't know if any were made but you never know!

brilliant thankyou for that extensive list! I'll try to adda few bits if I can

sorry what do you mean by "here"?

forgot to say also RAF survival rations

Hi if you make a Food/cooking Rations section, I can fill it with loads of relevant info Menu's and photos of Retro rations and links to rations I have collected. (I am not afiliated with any company I will link to Cheers Rich

Hi I've researched British army rations a bit I have found some menus for a few ration packs if people are interested. one thing has passed me by there was a trial Ration pack I guess around the 70's or early 80's that was designed for 2 men using a "buddy system" I have a photo from a book, (Survival by Len Cacutt page 152) on the ration box it says: " 24HR RATION PACK G.T. TWO MAN MENU...A..." The ration itself seem to be mostly a mixture of civvy shop bought items mixed with a few Army style packets i.e. there are small tins of veg, fruit, spam, a packet of noodles, but then those familiar to older squaddies green tubes of margarine or condensed milk. does anyone have any more info or experience with this particular ration?

lol, I live just outside Wisbech, the centre of the universe! A hot tip if you go to the auctions, go a day or 2 before Friday or Saturday is best, and as long as you wear a HI-Vis top you can borrow keys from the Office for pretty much any vehicle to test it in the Cheffins grounds., The Cheffins permenant staff and mechanics that move the vehicles around are all friendly,

well that, and it was also seen as a "soft" option 😉

I heard somewhere that caps, were considered too American, so they lost favour, but there are plenty of photos of them being worn around the mid to late 80's I was never issued one when I joined the TA in the early 1990's. Just out of interest, standard Hoods for the combat Jacket were issued but I never saw one attatched or worn. Helmet, black wooly hats, or Beret were the common thing to wear.

The belt attatchment looks right but there are so many mods made by so many people it's difficult to tell without any of the store details, it looks mint condition to me barely any wear on the velcro or "C" clips, it might be pouch made specifically for a soldier to hold a civilian pair of bino's perhaps an obsolete or trial bit of electrical kit?

cheers thanks for the advice! is there some sort of chart available with the UK/Nato codes?

Hi, just my 2p. There was never a 1958 pattern metal mug, only the Black plastic with metal handle (and uber an rare Green version). There was a metal mug named "85 pattern mug" perhaps this is what you mean? This was produced by Survival Aids around the late 80's before the crusader canteen cup was designed. It was the same shape and size as the Plastic 58" mug, so you could store it the same way in 58" water bottle pouch, it had a removeable plastic rim, to stop burns on the lips, (apposed to the common electric tape option) however the poor manufacturing process left a "wriggly tin" edge in the rim which meant that the plastic rim was not a good fit, and liqyuid would leak which dribbled on to the users chin. A few years later the BCB crusader canteen cup was produced and the "85" dissapeared into the history of "almost but-not quite" design file.

Agreed, Omani, they I saw one of the "SAS type" Windproof Jackets which had the same weird orangey colours, basically it is the same design as UK kit and will almost certainly work with it but it's pretty rare so gathering a whole set is unlikekly, interesting find!

Hi, I'm one of the Drivers for the Cheffins Tractor sale each month in Cambridgeshire. I'll keep my eye out for Military things. I don't get to drive military stuff, it's another sale, but you sometimes see military vehicles that have been sold or are waiting for the next sale. For example, Recently I saw some fake WW2 bombs on a jeep trolley waiting in the sold area, and last year there was a bedford 4 tonner, I've seen the odd camo coloured JCB, they often have Landrovers and Unimogs in the sale though not ex army ones. Might be worth looking through the tractor catalouge you never know what turns up, But from very good experience, after driving huindreds of vehicles... eveyrthing is sold as seen!

Hi I'm new to the forum Still figuring out how to do Photos. I recently bought some old DPM trousers from a charity shop, but they seem to have slightly different features. The label says: "TROUSERS COMBAT, Temperate DPM, CG8415-99-978-7484 SIZE 80/36/112 J Compton sons & Webb Ltd 34 SL34b/0479" They feel like quite heavy Cotton Modal fabric, I don't believe they are 84 or 64 pattern trousers, the camo is fairly standard with the old style DPM dotted shading, perhaps more in the yellow spectrum. It has standard fold flat thigh pockets, hip pockets, and 1980's sew on buttons, a plastic "opti" zip fly, and sewn in ties at the ankle. The inside of the fabric is like a geeny Kakhi the camo pattern is only just visible, everything about them say "Late 80's" (i.e. post-64 pattern pre-84 pattern) Then the odd bits. No rear pockets at all, no evidence there ever were (i.e. no stitch marks). as well as Buttoned beltloops bthat will take a 58" belt, it has A pajama type tie cord like from tropical trousers which I didn't think should be in this style of combats. My thoughts have been because of the lack of rear pocket, perhaps these were designed for a driver or pilot of some sort? or are they just modified? or perhaps a heavy weight tropical version? or possibly foreign isse? any ideas? Cheers

Hi I'm Rich, I live in The Fenns, (no I don't want to live in the fenns!) I did my TA training in the 1990's, so Have a good knowledge of issue kit and training from the era, although some of the kit we were issued was from from the decade before! I have a large collection of Britsh Personal equipment from the late cold war era, which including some rarer items, I would like identified. I also have RAF survival kit and some US Army gear from the same era, look forward to sharing and learning with you alll!