I’ve used these boots before, and I must say they are very comfortable and are a lot better than the ones made by Highlander or Grafter. They are quite narrow and short, which ensures your foot doesn’t move around much. Not that looks to make a difference, but they look very classic compared to the elastic, nylon patrol boots. These boots are standard issue in our squadron, but they are not very common in the internet shops. I was wondering if anyone else had seen these.,
There are issue boots pre MTP. Great boots and you can still wear them.
Personally I wouldn’t pay Silverman prices. Wait until you go on camp and see if you can scrounge a pair from stores.
thanks
They are tat.
They are a knock off, and not very good, copy of a boot the MOD used to buy for £12 a pair.
£55 will buy you a good pair of very high quality boots from Haix, Meindl, Lowa etc…
I’ve no idea where your Sqn got them, or why the staff push them, but they may be fine for a day on the local 50m range, but not for anything else.
The producer has even chosen to use the notoriously ungrippy zigzag solefrom the BCH rather than the more effective commando sole that was used on the original S8 Assault boot - which these are a rubbish copy of…
Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish - and a laugh in your face price to boot.
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Wait, what?
For cadets, yea they do the job. But I wouldn’t call them great at all. I lost numerous toenails while Tabbing in those.
They aren’t ‘fine for cadets’, cadets do DofE, cadets do march and shoot, cadets go to Sennybridge, or Thetford, or Dartmoor, or Garelochead - these are not fine for any of those things.
Tat, tat, tat…
Cheap Tat sold at a Premium Price, good to see that silvermans hasn’t changed at all!
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I have worn them, and I have not had any problems with them. I don’t know if they are the same type, but they definetly look extremely familiar
Issue Assault Boots were good boots. IF (and only if) they were perfectly broken in and you replaced the insoles with something decent.
I did 2 Nijmegens in a pair with about two blisters (including training!)
The issue is that most cadets bought them second hand, and they were already broken in to someone else’s feet. I was lucky and was issued my pair new at JL.
Looking forward, don’t touch a cheap knock off of a cheaply produced original!
They are a copy of the original CS95 programme S8 Assault boot - they were made by a company called GB Britton who were based in Bristol. The first trial boots had a cream calf leather liner and holes instead of the cleat-type things and were a really, really nice boot.
However, the MOD decided they cost too much and ordered a cheaper version for general issue - the liner went, the quality of the leather went down and they used a less durable sole unit.
You could buy seconds from Brittons factory shop in Kingswood in Bristol for £25 (MOD contract price was £12), and they also made the Pro-boot, which was the thinsulate/gore-tex lined cold wet weather boot that came out at the same time - the shop sold seconds of those for £50 if I recall correctly, but the MOD purchase price was about £30.
So, to be clear, they are a less good copy of a boot the MOD bought 20 years ago for £12, that almost no one in the Army wore on training areas or on operations, with a sole that was discontinued in MOD service because it provided a dangerously tenuous grip on wet ground.
But, you know, apart from that, fine for cadets for £55…
Where did you get your boots from?
I’d never buy from Silvermans. They’ve got to be the most over-priced surplus store known to man!
The problem which a lot of people are now facing with the old issue assault boots is that the supply currently in the surplus market are from those batches with the dodgy rubber soles. Some sort of vulcanizing issue or something.
Anyone who has tried a pair will know what I’m talking about. The soles feel squashy and will last only a few hours of wear before completely falling apart - all the while leaving a trail of flaked rubber behind you.
They’re turning up everywhere!
We were gifted a big bag of boots from an overseas squadron which was closing. I binned about 20 pairs which all had this issue.
Frankly, I’d now avoid the old issue boots like the plague. The chance of getting a gash pair is too high to justify the expenditure.
There are far more options available now at reasonable prices in brown or black.
Whilst your feet are still growing there is much to be said for paying a mid-level price on a decent pair of boots which can be sold on again to another cadet once you outgrow them.
When you’ve stopped growing, I maintain that one of the best investments you can make is in decent footwear. If you expect to get a lot of use out of them it is often worth spending a little more for the right boots which will be comfortable and last, rather than settling for something less than ideal.
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Silverman’s, known almost universally as silverthiefs…
The best to get decent boots at a good price is eBay - the boots to look out for are from Miendl, Lowa, Haix, Alt-berg, and they make not only very good military boots, but are long established civilian walking boot manufacturers whose products sell briskly for £150+.
So, the important bit - read this: in the age of black issue boots a pair of boots was issued as Part Worn Serviceable. This meant that they would be issued to an individual, returned to stores, and reissued again and again until (or long after) they were completely wrecked. With the brown boots they are individual issue, which means that they can only be issued to one person, and then even if that one person only wears them once, indoors and for five minutes to see that they fit, they cannot be issued to someone else and have to be sold through the MOD disposal process.
There are lots, and lots, of exactly these boots available.
These boots are effectively new, they are very good quality walking boots that the MOD buys for £80 or so (and cost £150+ from the manufacturers outlets), and you can buy them for anywhere between £40 and £70.
The terms to search for are Alt-berg Defender, Haix Cold Wet Weather, Lowa Mountain or Lowa Patrol. Anything by Meindl will also be very good.
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as I said, I have had no problems with them. I’ve used them for 11 months now, and they have served me fine. I dunked them into a river, and let water fall onto them for 2 minutes. They worked fine, and I’m still wearing them. I know, there are probably better options but these are the best for me.
I think my last boots (Lowas) came from Polimil.