Milk Creek Civil War Uniform quality?

[Niederlander]

Hello!
     I'm looking at having them make me an 1859 pattern USMC Officer's Undress Coat.  What is the quality of their Civil War uniforms?  Thanks!

[cpt dan blodgett]

I bought a pair of thier dark blue 1858 Trousers.  The wool was outstanding.  Not sure I did not specify or what but the trousers came un hemmed.  That only took me about an hour to rectify and sorta put a decent west point cuff in them.  Barely a break in front and angled to top of heal in back.

I will order the Civil War Company Grade Frock coat and the 1861 sky blue trousers from them one day.

My one knock is they dont answer e-mails, but get her on the phone and the lady is wonderful.

Terrible thing when the uniform will cost less than the epaulettes

[Niederlander]

Fortunately, my shoulder knots only cost about $30.  They were actually on sale at Legendary Arms!

[Gen Lew Wallace]

I purchased a shell jacket and vest from them about ten years ago.  They are good quality and fair prices. 

[harleydavis]

This is a late reply, I realize. I have some Milk Creek items and they are certainly good value for the money. Truth be told, I will probably buy from them again very soon. However, if you are looking for best quality items for an authentic, progressive Civil War impression, not so much. There are some very very good makers out there in terms of materials and correct construction of Civil War era uniforms, but you will spend substantially more than Milk Creek prices although, not always. As an examply, a Milk Creek 4 button sack coat is around $60 whereas, a Daley sack coat is $165 and is one of the better sack coats out there.  If you are only using the sack coat for CAS, may not matter. But if you of a prideful mindset and want to "do it right", a hundred bucks more may be worth it to you. If you are going to wear the coat for heavy reenactment use, there is a huge difference in longevity of the garment.

You get what you pay for and the question "best qualtiy" depends on what you are trying to acheive in terms of accuracy of impression. Sadly, some of the makers that used to provide decent items have fallen prey to the Pakki import thing so one needs to be cautious when spending the big bucks. Makers such as NJ Sekela, Chris Daley, Waumbaugh & White are just a few of the best quality Civil War uniform makers. Jarnagin used to provide a good quality uniform but have fallen a bit, although his leather goods are still some of the best to be found. Blockade Runner uniforms used to be similar to Milk Creek but the last Cav Shell Jacket I just got from them looks to be imported and they used to be US made. At least Milk Creek still makes there stuff domestically as far as I know. It is a bit more difficult to find quality makers of Indian Wars uniforms and Quartermaster Shop in Michigan is still pretty good for those items.

[Grenadier]

Another good thing to point out about the high end replicas is they always will hold resale value. A $60 investment in a sutler row quality sack coat will almost never have a resale value. However, a high quality such as Sekela will always have a secondary market with people waiting to purchase. Plus, most mainstream dealers use wool that is much too heavy for sack coats, thus being hotter than the better replicas.

[Pitspitr]

+1 to Harley and Grenadier excellent comments, except that Neiderlander's clothing won't have any resale value reguardless of the maker. He's sooo big nobody else could use any of his clothes unless they used his shirt as a dog tent.

I'd add Carter and Jasper to the list of outstanding suppliers.

Harley, what part of MN are you in? I was supposed to go to Mankato Friday and Saturday, but with the weather it is looking doubtful.

[harleydavis]

I'd add Carter and Jasper to the list of outstanding suppliers.

Harley, what part of MN are you in? I was supposed to go to Mankato Friday and Saturday, but with the weather it is looking doubtful.

There are many good makers out there if (1) you have the time to wait and (2) can afford and want to take your impression to a very high degree. Others mileage may vary.

I am in Albert Lea, right at junction of I-35 & I-90. At 4am (insomnia) tthere looks to be over 6-7 inches here.

[Pitspitr]

Yeah, I didn't make it to Mankato. My wife accused me of acting like a 2 year old pouting all weekend.

Albert Lea is about 4.5 to 5 hours from Sargent. You should think about joining us next July for the Department of Missouri Muster. We'd love to have you join us. http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,45111.0.html

[harleydavis]

Keep me posted on the event, but due to my job, it is nearly impossible for me to get Saturdays off. The ones I do, I have commitments to my CivWar unit and Old West reenactment bunch. It remains to be seen if I will manage to get to a shoot this year. Wife's health dictates a slow up in the hard charging CivWar stuff tho.

Tell your wife, you werent pouting. You had intended to get to Mall of America to pick her up a late Valentine present......heck, after that one you could even come home with that new Spencer!!!!!!!!!!!!! I fear we have hijacked the orginal posting.

[harleydavis]

A question has come to mind. Even though I proabably cant make your muster this year, perhaps another time. If I understand GAF, you are 1872 and later? The military persona I will shoot with at times, is Orderly Sergeant George Northrup, Co. C, Brackett's Battalion, Minnesota Volunteer Cavalry. Quite a fellow actually and prior to the war, was known as the "Kit Carson of the North". Anyway, he served with 1st Minnesota Volunteer Cavalry which initially which was part of 5th Iowa Cavalry until early 1864 when the 3 Minnesota companies returned to Minnesota. Another company was added and they became Brackett's Battalion. They went with Sully to Dakota Territory and is killed at Kildeer Mountain July 28, 1864. Official reports state that "he killed 10 Indians with his sixteen shot repeater" before he was filled with 8 arrows and 2 lances. So, question, do you accept Civil War era Cavalry with such documented of use of a Henry? Additionally I would use 1860 Army & percussion shotgun.

[pony express]

The answer is yes, that would be fine! A Civil War uniform with a Henry would be no problem, actually we don't use an 1872 date. However, for purposes of shooting competition, the Henry would actually be competing in the "Scout" class, against other lever action type rifles. There's several shooting categories, based on the rifle used. Military classes for Single shot or repeater, smokeless and black powder, as well as Scout, for lever actions pistol calibers, another category for rifle caliber lever actions, one for civilian style single shots, plus Staff Officer(pistol only) and forager(shotgun and pistol), all with both BP and smokeless. No shotgun, except in forager class. Exceptions to lever action categories: Spencers are in Military repeater class, and '95 Winchester can be in Military repeater class too. I may have missed a couple of categories, but check at the top of the GAF board, there's a seperate section for the rules.