Ghillie Suits
A ghillie suit is one of a sniper's most valuable pieces of equipment. Without it he would be in constant risk of discovery and have to take shots from much farther away. That is why I have made this page to go into a little more detail on making, using, and the importance of these suits. There is a link to my ghillie pictures page at the bottom. Check it out.
Notice the near perfect match of colors and textures in this suit. These are the characteristics of an excellent ghillie suit. If both of these are matched, then your suit can be just as affective.
Basics
There is no real "right" or "wrong" way to make a ghillie suit. However, most military and professional suits are all made almost the same way. If you would like detailed instructions on making a standard ghillie suit, click here to Snipers Paradise Ghillie Instructions or check out the links on my Links Page.
Garnish Length
The length of your strips of burlap and garnish is one area where there are many opinions as to how long to make them. I have heard of lengths all the way up to 4 feet. That is rediculous if you ask me, but to each his own. Some guidelines to go by are what kind of foliage or vegitation you will be operating in or around. If you are going to be concealing yourself in leaves (such as the floor of a hardwood forest, etc.) make strips rather short. Lots of smaller strips (hang about 3" - 7" off of the suit) will replicate the fallen or bunched leaves very well. Longer strips should be used when in flat, solid colored areas such as desert terrain, tall grassy areas, and urban areas. The longer strips help to blend away the human outline against the flat background and should hang about 8" - 18" off of the suit.
Tip for Shredding Burlap
Whatever length your garnish is, here's a helpful tip for shredding burlap without having to tie on strips of it then pull out all of the horizontal pieces (I know how messy and boring and wasteful this is): Cut a square of the burlap fabric with sides approx. double the length you want the garnish to hang off of your suit. You should have a relative square with about 6" - 30" sides (depending on your garnish length: 6" - 30" square gives you 3" - 15" burlap once tied on). Dye this piece of burlap or if it is already a good color then use it as is. Once dry, start at the very edge of the burlap and pull out each individual strand. Pull some off of each side and move into the square. Eventually you will be left with a pile of burlap strings all about the same length. Take several (3-10; 4 or 5 is average) strands of burlap strings and tie them onto your ghillie suit. With this technique you save alot of burlap and can customize the size and length of each of your strands of burlap easily and neatly. Try it and you will surely prefer it to the other ways to shred burlap.
Choosing Colors
An excellent way to choose colors for your material is to actually go into the woods, field, etc. and take field samples. Pick out the most abundant colors in the area and take a few samples (leaves, grass, sand, etc.) of these colors back with you. Use these samples as a guide when choosing colors. Try to match them as closely as you can. However, a ghillie suit should only be about 60% garnish. The rest is natural grass, leaves, plants, etc. from your surroundings which gives your suit those "perfect" colors to blend in. Now you know how to choose colors and decide the length of your garnish. These tips along with the Sniper's Paradise instructions will give you all the info. you need to make a great ghillie suit.
Perfecting and Using a Ghillie Suit
A ghillie suit can be used for many things besides sniping. For instance, a suit could come in real handy when on recon. missions, simple observations (spying), serious hunting, serious paintballing, wildlife photographing, and tracking. There are an endless number of uses for a ghillie suit but it's up to you. After you have acquired a suit (made or bought), you must know the basics on using it. First you will need to make sure your suit is the right color for your environment. The way to do this is to put on your suit, lay down in the woods, and get a friend to pick out "bald spots", blotchy spots, dark areas, and light areas. Take the suit back inside and use these suggestions to add/remove material, even out colors (spray paint works well), and darken/lighten areas. Try to match all natural colors in your region evenly. Just remember that you will be moving through different terrain so take this into mind when choosing colors. Once you think you have "perfected" your suit, it's time to field test it. Once again get a friend and some high-powered binoculars or a spotting scope and take your suit into the woods. Go 20 - 200 yards from your partner (depending on the vegetation) and tie vegetation (leaves, sticks, shrubs, grass, etc.) from the area into your suit using the shredded burlap (hint: for a quicker method, just fall backwards into some leaves and wiggle around a little. This tends to be much faster and the leaves or grass stay in pretty well.) This will take a while but it will help. Then pick a good place to hide and lay down. Scoop some more vegetation over you and then tell your friend to turn around and look for you. He should try to spot you in under 5 minutes, since by then he would be dead (in an actual situation of this type) anyway. If he cannot, then move to another location and try again. Once you have all the proof you need that your suit works, it's "done". It's ready to be used on your missions. Just use the technique with tying in (fall on back in) vegetation whenever you use it and keep it in working order, since they need to be mended after heavy use. Also keep in mind that movement is the key. Keep all movements to a minimum. When you must move, do so slowly and steadily. Remember: A ghillie suit is only as affective as the person wearing it!
Importance of a Ghillie Suit
The ghillie suit gives a sniper the advantage that is crucial to him making the kill. It lets him get in range of the target, yet stay nearly invisible. I have personally been within 3 feet of a friend who was looking for me during a training mission in broad daylight and was never spotted. Dogs have approached me, smelled me, then curiously yet quietly walked away. This is the kind of advantage a ghillie suit gives you (but i would not suggest getting 3 feet from your intended target and his small army of bodyguards and pit bulls; this is a little too risky). Without this edge, the sniper would have a much harder task to accomplish. For this reason a ghillie suit is nearly as important to a snipers success as his rifle.
Custom Ghillie Suit Info.
Ghillie Pix
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