vintage military stuff

[Frank]

Anyone have any good sources for reliably dating military stuff? Any ideas and tips would help.

[CRAZYBUBBA]

It depends what you're talking about. If you're looking to figure out whether your M-65 jacket is a from the vietnam era or an 80s issue, it would require a little knowledge about zippers, manufacturers, etc. I don't think that there's a good resource out there for that. I'm personally interested in gulf war tees and flight jackets, those are the types of things that you can find alot of literature on. One thing I find useful in this regard is looking through old photographs and comparing the styles of jackets that the people are wearing. There are a few books about military jackets on amazon but I haven't gotten around to purchasing one yet.

[hermosavtg]

Have you check out DSA and DLA numbers on the tag? Most post 1950's military stuff has these numbers on the tag that will have a series of two numbers in the middle that gives you the exact date it was manufactured.

WWII stuff has contract numbers and there is extensive info on this (as well as dating other military stuff) readily available online.

[CRAZYBUBBA]

Thanks Hermosa! Those numbers have always been Greek to me.

Here's a good guide that explains it all:
http://reviews.ebay.ca/Intrepreting-Dat ... 0010153791

[Frank]

Neato, thanks