As part of a sniper team you must learn to master many things, such as fieldcraft. Fieldcraft includes everything from stalking up to camoflauging yourself. Because camoflauge is my subject of choice I will start with that.
To make a sucessful camo pattern a person must be able to fool the human eye into thinking that you are not there. To do this the pattern must blend in to the surroundings so well that the observers eye's scan right past you. I can only think of one camoflauge that works so well that you can become nearly invisible. That one camoflauge is a ghillie suit. Most people dont know what a ghillie is. A ghillie is a Scottish game keeper. The game keepers needed asuit that would camoflauge themselves well enough to capture paochers.
The first military group to ever use a ghillie was the Loval Scouts, a British sniper group in World War I. Making a ghillie can take a long time if done properly, but if you do it properly it will work wonderfully. Most ghillie suits are one or two piece uniforms to which you attach hundreds of strips of burlap to it to create a confusing design.
How to make a ghillie- If you plan on making a ghillie suit in the near future you will need most of the following materials: fishing string, larger than usual B.D.U.s, dyes, heavy-dut needles, boonie hat, canvas, water canteen or camlebak canteen, shooting gloves, jungle boots, 2"x2" netting ( volley ball nets will work if you can not find 2"x2" netting), and most important of all...burlap.
To start out with I would have your partner put the B.D.U.s on wo you can drape the netting over him (make sure it hangs over his sides so when he is low crawling it covers his sides) and clothes pin it to the jacket where ever you plan on sewing it on. Once you have sewn on the netting you can make additional pockets, or a pouch on the inside of the jacket for a canteen. Once you have a pouch for the canteen, take the canteen and drill a hole in the cap big enough for a piece of NEW gasoline hose to fit through and stay snuggly in place. You would sling the hose over your shoulder and sip out of it while crwling around. Personally I would just spend $40 on a Camelbak hydration system from Blackhawk Inc., but if you have a tight budget I would use the alternative.
Because you will be crwling around alot Iwould sew a layer of canvas to the front area that is most commonly on contact with the ground while in a low crawl. This will make your ghillie last longer in harsh environments.
Now you are to a very touchy part of the ghillie making process...dying the burlap. Because you are problably in a different area than Iam you will have to dye the burlap to fit your surroundings. Make suer that you test the dye with a small strip of burlap to see if it is too dark or not before you place all of your burlap in the dye.
Once you have dyed the burlap and allowed it sufficient time to dry you can start what I think is the slowest part of making a ghillie, cutting the burlap. When you cut it you should have your first piece be about 2"x15", then cut the rest of the strips based on that size. Make sure not to make them all the same because then you would be making a pattern and nature does not have any patterns.
After you have all of your burlap cut into strips you can start tying them to the netting. I would try to tye at least on strip on every square, then put it where ever needed there after. When you tie the strips to the netting make sure you tie them in the middle of the strips instead of at the ends, this will save you burlap and time.
For camoflauging your boots you can either sew strips to them or take an over sized military sock and put it over your boot and sew burlap to it. I prefer the second method because you can take the sock off and not have to worry about the burlap catching on anything while walking. As for your boonie hat you can take it and have netting sewn onto it like you did for your jacket except you msut have more hanging infront of you so you can conceal most of your rifle while laying down and shooting. Because your head is usually the highest part of your body while you are in a low crawl you will need to make it blend in with the rest of your ghillie and surroundings. Once you have the netting on it you just add burlap and you have a ghillie hat.
Your gloves should be camo and have the trigger finger cut off so you can sensitize your finger with the trigger. If you are worried about losing them you can sew a string from your jacket to your gloves so that where ever your ghillie is your gloves are.
For your pants just do it like you would for a jacket and when you are done you will have one of the best types of camoflauged suits in the world.
As you will learn there is no perfect ghillie, just guidelines. If you are like me you will end up making about five ghillies a year before you are satisfied.
Facial camoflauge can be just as crucial as a ghillie. For example you could have a perfect g-suit but if you pop your head up to observe and the enemy spots a fleshy looking face watching them they will probably try to shoot you. What you will need to do is camoflauge your face, hands, neck and any other thing that has a fleshy looking color. Another note is to take off any jewelry or watches that would attract attention.
One thing to remember when putting on facial camo is that dark colors cause shadows or give it an appearence of going away, and light colors do just the opposite. So anotherwords dont put light colors on your nose, lips, eye lids, or ears; anything that sticks out from the face. Also dont forget to use colors that fit in your surroundings.
Another important thing to camoflauge is the snipers best friend...his rifle. You can buy gun chaps that go over your gun but if you have a customized stock it will not fit properly. They also have a tendency to affect your zero because they can be so tight that it pushes the free-floated barrel against the fore-arm. even though it only moves the barrel slightly it can be enough to cause a miss. You can also tape your gun with camo tape. MAke sure that it will not leave a sticky residue when you take the tape off. Once you tape your gun make sure it didn't affect your zero. Do not just wrap the tape around the gun, you should tape it horizontly along the barrel. Make sure the tape doesn't hang over the muzzle.
For those who are allowed to, you can have a professional air brush it. Make sure that when or if you have your gun painted that you don't get any on your scope lens because if it dries it will be nearly impossible to get the paint off without scratching the lens. Yes, air brushing is a good choice but the biggest dilema is if you have to move into a different terrian that your guns camo wasn't designed for.
As for your gear goes I have a few pretty simple solutions for that. One is spray paint and the other is for A.L.I.C.E. packs. A.L.I.C.E. packs have plenty of places where you can attach burlap or B.D.U. strips.
PLEASE DISREGARD THE EXTRA INSTRUCTIONS BELOW, THEY ARE FROM MY OLD WEB PAGE. READ IF YOU LIKE.In this section I will discuss the imprtance of a good camoflauge pattern. With today's modern technology we are able to make some of the best camoflauges on the market with the aid of computers, but I think that the absolute best camoflauge attair a person can have is the ghillie suit. Most people dont really know what a ghillie is. A ghillie is a Scotish game keeper. The game keepers invented a suit made of jute burlap and vegitation to sneak up on clever poachers. In the western part of the world most elite forces use it to sneak within range of thier target to deliver a well placed shot to complete his mission. to make a ghillie suit you will need a oversized jacket (oversized to make it easier to move around), 2"x2" netting (enough to cover your jacket and have some hanging over the sides) Once you have aquired all of your materials you should sew your netting onto the fatigues. Once you do that you start cutting your burlap into 2"X14" strips and start tieing them onto he netting. Don't tie them on at the end of the burlap, but tie them in the middle to cover more area, and save burlap. Some snipers use rope and fry the ends, and some actually use string instead of burlap. I find burlap to be the most time economical. If you plan on making a ghillie you will find out that there is no perfect ghilie, only guide-lines. You will probable end up making a couple till you think that it is good enough to be used in the field. If you find it to hard to make a ghillie, you can always buy a commercial one that is custom built to fit your needs, but it will end up costing you more than it would to make one yourself. I have personnely priced them at uup to $500.00 dollars! I must ask you this, is really worth your time or your money to make or buy a ghillie? Definitley yes! To some of the elite forces members thier ghillies means the difference between life and death. Another thing you should do is fire-proof your ghillie. Some snipers have actually died from grenade sparks and become a crispy critters. You can ask your local fire department for dealers that sell these types of fire-proofers. I would recommend sewing canvas on the front near the knees, elbows, and chest area; basicly anywhere on your body where you will be in contact with the ground. This will make it easier to move on the ground and will make your ghillie last longer. You will need to spray paint over this in a camo color once it is sew on to make it blend in with your ghillie. One of the most important things to remember when constructing your ghillie is that the average human can see about 1 MOA at one hundred yards. So you that means he can see one inch at one-hundred yards, two inches at two-hundred yards, three inches at three-hundred yards, etc, etc. So you will want to make sure that all of the same colors are not grouped together because it will stand out more. But most people also don't think about other opticallty equipped observers ( another words, any other enemy snipers) can see at least 1/20 MOA at one-hundred yards. That menas that they will be able to see 1/20 of an iche at one-hundred yards, 1/10 at two-hundred, etc, etc. But you must take into consideration the effects of mirage, winds, unstableness, and other things like that.
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