Rothco Camo M-65 Field Jacket - Weather Ready Durability

Love this coat. Fits and looks great!!!

Tiger Stripe has always been my camo of choice, the M-65 has got a great color to this pattern and the build quality is nice. The jacket is sized VERY large however.Strengths:Fabric - It's a nice poly cotton blend that seems rugged and water resistant. Note, this is not a 100% waterproof item - but that's not really the point of this jacket. I sprayed it with some water-proofing spray to make it even better.Color - The Tiger Stripe is a rich color, which is what I want. It will naturally fade over time, but I always like my camo to start with strong colors. It matches perfectly the Boonie hat as well.Liner - The jacket comes with a full-length synthetic liner that buttons in. It's not a super warm "arctic level" liner, but wear a Wooly Pully underneath - and I'm sure that it will be very effective in most conditions.Build quality - The stitching seems neat, the snaps are well built, its got a massive brass zipper.Price - I paid less than $100 for this jacket, and frankly I think that it's a pretty good price for this item.Weaknesses:Sizing - I am 6'2", and wear a size 40 suit jacket. This M-65 is a Medium regular, and it is HUGE on me. It's plenty long enough and the width . . . Well, I could easily wear a sweater, plate carrier, and extra mags on a chest harness underneath with room to spare. I would probably be better with a Small-Long, but that size doesn't exist. I suppose you could take this as a positive, but be warned the sizing is very BIG.Hood - The small hood zipped into the collar is very thin and flimsy. It's not lined and doesn't really fit over the collar. I imagine rain with run off it and into my collar. I may take it to a tailor and have them rig it up to button onto the collar, because right now the hood seems to be an afterthought.Summary:I'm very pleased with this jacket, and I'm sure to use it for many years into the future. Who knows, I may get one in khaki or brown sometime later. Be advised, these are very large jackets; consider sizing down.

I own a collection of 15 M65-jackets, so I have some knowledge ;-)And I was looking for a tigerstripe version of the M65 jacket.I could find only 2 , the Rothco on Amazon and a nameless brand (made in Korea) on Ebay UK.Rothco.Quality seems very nice, the colors are close to the original Apha Industries, see first photo on the right, Rothco is left.There are some minor differences, smaller upper pockets, different location of the epaulets, etc.Material is 55% cotton, 45% polyester.The jacket needs some work:You have to sew on extra velcro at the end of the sleeves, because you can not adjust the closure far enough, cold comes in. Same for the collar, needs also extra piece of velcro.The drawcord at the hips is not elastic, you should replace that with 4 mm elastic cord, like the original.In the collar you see a zipper for the concealed hood, that is very shiny brass, not good for a camo jacket, I will paint it black.The liner that can be buttoned in, has not buttons itself.I have sewn extra buttons onto the liner, so you can wear the inner liner as a jacket too.At the end of the sleeves of the liner, I will sew elastic cuffs to keep cold air out.Size.Is always a problem for me, because I am 195 cm long and only 80 kgs weight.Original Alpha jackets, L fits for summer use, and XL for winter use with insulating liner.I think Rothco sizes are about the same as Alpha GI issues.The tigerstripes M65 from Ebay UK , I had ordered in L , and was too small for me.The Rothco tigerstripes M65 from Amazon, I had ordered in XL , is a bit too wide for me.Price point.For the EBay jacket l I have paid 94 euros.For the Rothco on Amazon 140 euros. (I live in Europe, so extra taxes for import EU).If you want tigerstripes, the Rothco is best choice, color much better, quality also.See Photo nr 2 : Left Alpha middle Ebay Korea, right Rothco.If you want a M65 jacket, but do not need tigerstripes:I suggest the brand "Brandit"-M65 jackets, available in a lot of colors, here available for around 50 euros, good price-quality.If you want the best copy of a GI army M65 jacket, look for Helikon-Tex from Poland (made in China).For around 100 euros, an excellent jacket, strong material 50-50 Nylon-cotton, you will not regret !The Helikon-Tex has all the features that I mentioned above, and needs no extra work, splendid !

I've got US GI M65 jackets made by Golden, Alpha and Corinth, along with "repro" companies like Mil-Tec, Teesar and Rothco. I've got 40 years of military experience from US Army, Navy and National Guard service. So, this jacket is lighter than original due to use of a poly/cotton mix and the liner is sewn to the outer at the bottom, unlike originals, which used nylon/cotton outer shell mix and a liner NOT sewn to the outer at the bottom, so as to make repairs easy. There are also NO collar point button holes, thus making use of the old style Arctic hood difficult to use, if at all. The upper pockets are at least one inch to shallow. The lower pockets, however, are well-made and possibly better than originals. Zippers are no-name, but after waxing are smooth to use. Sewing is good quality though corners could do with more bar tacking etc. in my opinion. There is no inside pocket as are now included on Alphas. I should note that the quality of Alphas now are substantially less due to their production in China, as is this Rothco. However, the changes on the Rothco pattern, like Alpha, are reflections of a modern non-military buyer. A careful inspection to cut off "Irish pennants", wash-in waterproof by Nikwax, or Scotchgard spray, wax the zippers, and this jacket will perform as well as many of the "back in the day" '65s I used. If you want a modern repro that meets original spec closely, I get Helikon (I have several), but for the price AND the coyote colour, you can't beat this Rothco. Well done them. Tweak a few things and they can have a hot product.

This is a fantastic coat for the price. Civilised comfort with a removable liner.

This was my grandson's favorite camo pattern. He was very happy when he opened his gift.