M14 fieldgrey Breadbag from HESSEN - Review

[soldataltengarde]

I received an M14 breadbag from Hessen on Friday. I compared it to one of my originals & a repro from Schipperfabrik. Some observations: 1. the material in color and weight seemed good. 2. the hardware is cheesy - the dish buttons are shiny and have the feel of cheap tin (edges are raw and sharp) 3. the straps for the belt & belt hanger are slightly longer than any breadbag I have seen! the leather reinforcement is short - barely covering an area the size of two inches, 4. the leather for the button down flaps are thin. And finally, 5. the bag opening is a little on the small side (6 inches wide) as compared to about 7 to 8 inches on my other bags.
OVERALL: The bag is serviceable but reminds me of a cheap theatrical prop! SO THAT BEING SAID: should I replace the buttons with good ones, and keep it for field use, or return it to HESSEN ANTIQUE? IT SUCKS TO PAY SHIPPING FOR SOMETHING YOU DON'T LIKE and THEN HAVE TO GET STORE CREDIT or SOMETHING ELSE & PAY SHIPPING AGAIN!
It seems Hessen does well in some areas of repro gear and really falls down in other areas?
Your opinions Kamaraden?

[kingkaiser]

I'm no expert, but here are my thoughts. It's known that Germany had numerous contractors making wartime items, including uniforms, bread bags, and other field gear. These contractors often used their own patterns, as well as their own supply of fabric, buckles, buttons, etc. Therefore, there appears to be a lot of "wiggle room" regarding the shape, sizes, and colors of various items. With this in mind, is the length of the belt straps, the size of the bag opening, as well as the other observations, too far off to be within the expected "manufacturer differences"? I don't know----just some ideas for discussion.

How do these compare with their ocher bread bags? I would expect that both styles are made by the same manufacturer.

[soldataltengarde]

I don't have one of their ochre bags.. I DO HAVE one of SCHIPPER's ochre bags and the quality of Schipper's bag is 3x better.

I showed it to one of my WW2 reenactors and asked him to compare all three (Hessen, Schipper, Original) and he agreed the quality of Hessen's bag is inferior. It gives a whole new meaning to "ersatz"!

[soldataltengarde]

Well, I got a message from Hessen. They refunded the item and gave me something of equal value (less shipping) per my request; a G-98 sling!