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here are my norwegian army sleeping bags:



late 1970s bag,alround bag summer winther


left bag 1980s ranger bag with ground mat inside the water proof outer liner,al seasons
rigth bag early 1990s regular army bag al seasons


left bag late 1990s extreme cold weather bag,put normal bag inside
rigth bag 2000s issue,al seasons bag,never tryed it

cheers ken,hope you like the pictures Housil

Norge,

WoW! Those look like some really awesome bags. They look better than the US ones. Have you had a chance to try any out camping and so forth? If so, which one do you like the best? Any info on whether you can buy these outside the military? Also what is the weight on all these bags, are they super heavy and bulky? Or light?

Regards.

i have tryed al of them except the 2000 model.
i have mostly used them in arctic weather and authum periods
the bags i like best is the ranger bag and the 1990s regular bag


i dont have the weigth rate on them,but the ranger bag is a bit heavy and more bulky
since it have the ground mat inside.
the other bag is ligther.

wich one of them did you like?
i migth have a chance to gett hold of some of the types if you like?

cheers ken

norge wrote:
cheers ken,hope you like the pictures Housil

They are great!!!! Thx for it!

Do you have any own experience in sleeping outside at winter with that bags?

What´s the fillings? Synthetics or down?

Modern (expensive) sleepingbags always have synthetic filling, that even insulates when it's moist/wet..
Natural filling like down, cotton etc doesn't, and cools you down.

They are mostly a mix of normal (polyester, nylon, etc) and microfibers (hollow or semi hollow tube or horseshoe like fibers), which insulate much better then older conventional stuffings. The military ones are often also treated with fire repellant additives to make them safer.

In the future we will probably get nano fibers aswell...

Down gives you by same weight more insulation than synthetic fibers.

Down is/was in use with US Extreme Cold sleeping bag and Canadian:





an is perfect for dry, cold climates like artic, Canada and that´s why I´m asking, Norway?

Other sleeping bags like MSS, Bundeswehr Allg 2 usw are made from synthetic and have a bivybag. They are made for cold + moist/wet climate

Is down still used in the newer sleeping bags? 2003 onwards?

Because the Dutch artic ones are filled with microfibers, that insulate better then normal filling, maybe a bit less then down, but keeps it insulating use when it's moist.. (they tend to get moist quite fast if you have to sleep with boots on in your sleeping bag)

Housil:

the norwegian army bags i have are made by synthetic fibers
not down.
down bags are mostly used when you go to the north pole where you have extreme cold weather
al the time and its real dry cold clima.
these bags is supose to handle both dry cold and moist weather, since its only
ranger bag that have a water proof outerliner the others can be changed with the supply
if real wet. the norwegian army dont supply water p liners for al their bags since they cut down
money on the gear so we use other nations liners when we are on exersices

i have used al the types execpt the 2000model and i like them pretty good,but i preffer
the ranger bag with the outside liner and extra ground mat.
the other bag in the picture with the ranger bag is also a winner so far
but it dont have the wet liner so you have to add a us made or other
goretex liner.
i have used them in minus35-celsius without any freezing,but we use wool clothing on
the body when we go to sleep since the norwegian army says we have to by law
they dont want any law suits afther an exersice for frostbites and other cold weather injuries

when it got extreme cold when on exersices i used to go to the medi vac people and borrow a pasient
body heater to put in the sleeping bag.

we never use to sleep with the boots in the s bags,thats a no go from the army
when red alert we used to sleep in full combat gear with the bags on topp of us like a blanket
the things we used to dry in the bags was wool socks.

cheers ken

Cracker wrote:Is down still used in the newer sleeping bags? 2003 onwards?

Because the Dutch artic ones are filled with microfibers, that insulate better then normal filling, maybe a bit less then down, but keeps it insulating use when it's moist.. (they tend to get moist quite fast if you have to sleep with boots on in your sleeping bag)

European Army´s will use synthetic fibres only, due to our wet/cold climate.

With boot´s IN the bag?!
IF we had to, put your carring bag OVER your boots or don´t zip it, keep your boots outside.
Wet = cold
If your bag became wet, you wouldn´t get it dry outside in the fields as the air is humid too. So you have to spend another night in a wet and cold bag...

Every May, we go camping. Lot´s of complains - but at least all Housil familiy is joining

Last May, I gave to Mrs. Housil my best equipment I have:
Cot, Therm-A-Rest + US MSS


Next morning I was asking her, how she slept?
"I was freezing the whole night. Let´s go home... "

What did she do wrong?

She was wearing her jeans pants, moist from night outside at the fire, inside the bag the whole night...

For the next night, I "forced" her to pull off her moist jeans and

"recommanded" her to wear that "long johns"

Next morning:" "

I had all kind of equipment with us

but synthetics with bivybags only.
A German night in April/May could mean -6°C and frost...

I never sleep with boots / overclothes on.. only underwear and a shirt.. also no socks, but I simply don't go out camping when it's < 15*C.. Because we mostly do it with hiking, and cold weather means to much extra weight to carry with you..

But the military makes people to leave there boots on at all time on training.. because of the famous "NAAAACHTAAAALARM!".. enemies.. at night, by surprise..

I always use my civil mummy (-15) sleepingbag (olive drab colour) filled with synthetic fibers.. (not microfibers unfortunatly.. they are a lot more expensive)

On a Dutch standard issue fieldbed with a thermomat under it (isomatte)

It works fine for me.. but hell, I don't have to sleep outside with -35*C.. poor guys at stalingrad..