SOF ammo boots

I think it is a bit variable, my pair are made of quite thin leather and I'm sure the heels are basically compressed cardboard, however they are nearly five years old and still going strong with many, many layers of dubbin on. They've even still got the original leather laces, which have stretched a bit but not snapped.

Charlie has a pair too, and they are very nice - fairly thick leather although not as thick as proper military boots, toecaps which hold their shape etc.

Cheers
Martin

As Martin said, not as thick as original boots, mine looked like they'd been through 2 years of combat after the first outing. That being said they haven't gotten worse, they still look the same. Mine has lost nearly all the hobnails off one boot but that's easily remedied by a trip to the cobblers. Keeping them clean and use dubbing after games and they are good. I've submerged mine in a swamp, walked through rivers, climbed steep hills and run them up paving and they are still going strong.

The SOF boots I have ended up as my best boots. The leather is thin and the metalwork is thin. They have polished up well and are comfortable to wear.
My Lennon boots have been through all sorts of wear and mud and water. They are much thicker leather and have kept most of their metalwork well. They only get cleaned dried and re-dubbined after events but are lasting well.
They did take a bit more wearing in as the thick leather did take a bit of shaping to be comfortable on the foot.
For use in the field I would recommend the Lennon's every time.

Yes, I have had cheap boots and concur with Ramsay, if you can afford it, go with Lennon. These are made in the UK on machines and lasts that made WW2 boots (and WW1!) by proper boot makers - these aren't 'repros', they are the real thing, just not made in the 1940s. The heritage meant as much to me as the practical quality - these are of battle-worthy construction and can't be in any way compared with cheap copies that look the same but not made the same. Look after Lennons and you retain good value when you come to sell, a factor that is worth noting when it comes to whole-life cost analysis. Given a good pair of shoes (be it brogues, walking boots or even trainers) cost over £100 these days, £70 for cardboard boots isn't cheap, and Lennons at £130 doesn't seem excessive!

That all said, if all you have is £70 then that is the deciding factor, so don't worry about it, repros look fine.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WW2-British-A ... 2053575810

Hmmm, in that case I think I'm going to stick with my DMS boots whilst I save up for some William Lennon boots then, I'd rather have a good, hardwearing pair of boots that I can use for a long old while if I look after them, I'd also like something with a bit of resale value. I'm also going to keep my eye out for postwar leather soled ammo boots in the meantime.

Cheers for all the advice, Moss.

I'm sure people have had better experience's than me but mine were aweful! They fell apart after two games in the wet, so thinking it was just some dodgy stitching I took them to my village cobbler.

As I wouldn't mind having a go a cobbling my own stuff one day I helped him...wish I hadn't. In all honesty there seemed to be more cardboard than leather. He said he'd never seen such thin, poor quality leather on any shoe, he was shocked they were selling them to wear!

If I were you mate I'd grab some surplus, as they didn't change much up to the 70's. I just bought a cheapish pair and had them resoled, much more comfy and hard wearing.

As mentioned, if you save up a little more you can buy a brand new pair made by William Lennon. By far the best boot I've seen, really made to last. You find them on eBay with khaki devil or you can message him and he'll order a pair in for you. These are the boots that reenactors seem to wear.

Hope this helps mate

Sounds like a bloody ordeal!

I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye out for some post war leather soled boots, found a pair on ebay but they're not exactly in good condition, seem to have been hot teaspooned at some point, so no pebbling left and they have a cut on one of the ankles, so I'm going to be giving them a miss.

Out of curiosity, what about the soles of the post war boots you bought was "wrong", or were they just knackered?

Cheers for the help and advice, Moss.

It wasn't fun! I agree with you about those others too, alot of effort to put right.

They just were a bit knackered, though they look knackered again now lol though they were dry beyond the help of dubbin. Had these a while now, been over hill and dale as they are my hiking boots also. Very sturdy, very comfy and very hard wearing.

Had a few "brown pant* moments in them were friends have had their modern boots shredded and mine were fine bar a scuff! (May have hiked up Helvellyn in hurricane winds, and got blown off...and not in the good way )

They do come up quite often as far as I can see and most of the time all that needs to be done is changing the new hobnails for old.

Bloody hell! I went up Arthurs seat in Edinburgh March last year with my girlfriend when we were visiting her grandparents and that was scary enough! I couldn't believe it's not a proper mountain!

Sounds like they hold up well though, I'll definitely try to get a pair before I consider Lennon's. Hobnails can be found very cheaply on eBay so replacing them would be no problem either, I think I'll go for the pre/early war 25 nails per boot come to think of it. Early war kit is the best after all and I'm sure there were still some boots with 25 hobnails kicking about in '45.

Cheers, Moss

What size of boots do you need Moss? And do you have wide or thin feet?

My current boots are 10 S and they're slightly too tight and small, so an 11 M should fit. Due to an injury 6 years ago one of my feet is slightly wonky below the ankle so an 11 L would also likely fit.

Cheers, Moss.

Ah, well I've got a lovely pair of genuine 10M you could have for £30? They're ex-drivers boot so have very little wear, not been bulled and shrank, and no hobnails added (driver's boots), so ripe for hobnailing up to war-time spec', or just using as-is when you buy yourself a Jeep?

Bloody hell that's a good offer McVickers I wonder if they would fit him, tbh they could stretch

Ah bugger, did a bit of hoovering in my DMS boots today and my big toe was noticeably touching the end of the boots, so I think I'll have to give them a miss and wait until a size 11 comes up. Cheers for the offer though, definitely worth it if there's anybody else after a pair in size 10.