Tweet
Re: Infantry Enlisted Dress Hat Side Looping
I was considering this a few weeks ago when making another hat, and watching one of my pards have a repeated hat malfunction with the previous hat I made.
Using a rifle oriented drill (right hand shoulder), none of our hats get in the way at shoulder arms (rifle sits vertically to the side of the body, frequently on the outside of the shoulder, especially with blanket-roll wearers. At right shoulder shift the rifle sits closer in but misses the brim due to the angle. At support arms the rifle just catches the brim on the hat. This is avoided by holding the rifle at a slope similar to right shoulder shift, misaligning the head, or a slight bending of the brim of the hat.
Using a musket oriented drill (left hand carry), hat brims get in the way at a carry and support, but not at slope or advance.
Some of our rifles and muskets are developing a mark on the wood from binding against hats at support and left hand carries.
This would suggest that the left-side looping is practical regardless of drill used. I suspect the really narrow shouldered may have to make a slight bend to the brim on the right, but it is at the left where most hat brims cause a problem. I now make a point of finding the time to stand at support arms with a new hat with a pan of water ready and make minimum adjustments until the hat doesn't get knocked off or deranged during manual of arms. It should be noted that many picture of infantry wearing hats that aren't pinned up, there is still some deformation of brims on one or both sides unless the brim is very narrow.
I was considering this a few weeks ago when making another hat, and watching one of my pards have a repeated hat malfunction with the previous hat I made.
Using a rifle oriented drill (right hand shoulder), none of our hats get in the way at shoulder arms (rifle sits vertically to the side of the body, frequently on the outside of the shoulder, especially with blanket-roll wearers. At right shoulder shift the rifle sits closer in but misses the brim due to the angle. At support arms the rifle just catches the brim on the hat. This is avoided by holding the rifle at a slope similar to right shoulder shift, misaligning the head, or a slight bending of the brim of the hat.
Using a musket oriented drill (left hand carry), hat brims get in the way at a carry and support, but not at slope or advance.
Some of our rifles and muskets are developing a mark on the wood from binding against hats at support and left hand carries.
This would suggest that the left-side looping is practical regardless of drill used. I suspect the really narrow shouldered may have to make a slight bend to the brim on the right, but it is at the left where most hat brims cause a problem. I now make a point of finding the time to stand at support arms with a new hat with a pan of water ready and make minimum adjustments until the hat doesn't get knocked off or deranged during manual of arms. It should be noted that many picture of infantry wearing hats that aren't pinned up, there is still some deformation of brims on one or both sides unless the brim is very narrow.
Comment