Sterling White Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 The past couple of years have been trial by error with footwear. Have been down the road of jogging shoes, hikers, football shoes, basketball shoes....uhg the money spent! It took a close call at one of the local matches to give me inspiration. Here's the short of it: Blackcreek, near Richmond Va, on a early Sunday with light rain on grass and big field coarse w/hikers. You guessed....my ass went down while the feet went up when I applied the breaks to shoot thru a low port. During the flight I managed to apply steadiness and calmness completing the COF thru the barrel while my shorts were sitting in an inch of water! Humbled by the encounter of arse/ground contact - I made my way to see Phil at Shooters for a needed discussion. Now, at the end of the season I can give my Bates tactical lites a thumbs up. They took a little bit of wear to get a broke in feel about them but after a few days of wear they were all for the go. Used them on multiple surfaces this year including in a good 12 inches of water at the A4. The only problem with them that I have found is this. A piece of 9mm brass is the right size to get caught between the rubber cleats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackdragon Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Yea Sterling, The amount of money spent! Boy! I finaly settled on Nike cleats and my NB cross trainers. I just change them between stages, For stairs and all. Ivan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 yeh, I use cleats at outdoor stuff. I stick with normal tennis shoes indoors. BTW sterling gun is running, all it took was a heavier mainspring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimel Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Can anyone recommend an online retailer for these? Finding this sort of thing "locally" has been nigh unto impossible. Google turns up a lot of outlets but one never knows about some of those places. I have been wearing Columbia hiking shoes and they work great except in the ankle support arena and in mud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 My new favorite shooting footwear Joe Rocket boots, the have Doc Martin soles, they are sticky, good ankle support, light weight, and you can stand in them all day on the rocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 LOCKED until we finsd one of the other "What shoes to wear" threads. I get to it eventually Or, soembody can do a SEARCH and bump the appropriate thread to the top...then the two will be merged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 OK... Opened back up. For the record... This thread is more of an END OF SEASON REVIEW than anything else. We have quite a few thread on "what shoes I wear" we don't really need a new thread on that. I put together a FAQ threads on shoes, boots, & cleats. (with some lead work by Tman and Lynn) http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?...pic=18488&st=0& PLEASE check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman33_99 Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 I wore Bates Scouts for most of the year. Purchased from Sportsmansguide.com for less than $40. They have good ankle support (some others are better), the lugged/cleat sole works very well for most surfaces including dirt, sand, gravel, concrete, asphalt, etc., but do tend to pick up pea gravel, and small brass, which can be annoying. The one surface that they do poorly on is wet clay. Shot a match last week, where at the end of every stage I was at least 3 inches taller, and had absolutely no traction, but I don't think anyone's foot wear was working on that wet clay. Travis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn jones Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 i tried to post this before flex locked it. thanks for reopening the thread flex and for the sticky post. i have been wearing the gsg9's for about a year now. i like the shoes, however, they do have their draw backs. 1. the price 2. hard to get on and off (for me at least) i even had zippers put in. i just bought the bates enforcers. these boot are half the price of the gsg9's and come with zippers. now these boots need breaking in, where as the gsg9's didn't. i had to order a half size smaller with the bates to get a proper fit. (see the above posts) that's about where i'm at right now. i just got the bates tuesday. i wore them that day and haven't fiinished breaking them in yet. i'll keep you up dated. lynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlad Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 This year I finally gave up on the cheap Magnum lines mostly because I wear out the soles to fast. I like the feel and how they work but the soles are gone in 3 months, as I wear them almost all day and I walk for 2 to 3 miles with the dog on sufaces that eat up rubber. However I discovered that Magnum/Hi-Tech also make decent shoes. I have a pair of their hikers which I use for shooting and I really like them. They are very light weight, good traction, and they have that uppwards curved heel which makes the silly walk a bit easier. I also got a pair of their higher end tactical boots, the Elite. I got the winter version with 400gr Thinsulate so I can only give you a partial report as it has not been cold enought to wear them much. These things are a completely different beast then the cheap end Magnums. They seem to have a much higher quality, a completely different multilayer sole, decent insoles and a very solid feel. I did go for the waterproof version and that might have been a mistake as without a sidezip putting them on and taking them off is not easy. They do need to be broken in a tad but it looks like they are going to work out. Vlad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDave Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 I recently purchased a pair of Dunham Nimble. They have a Vibram sole with as close as would call a cleat in an hiker/AT shoe. I've worn them now in 2 matches with sand and dewy grass and found them very very sturdy lots of traction. For the shoe build, the weight isn't bad. But I'm 6'6" 280#, so a few oz's at the end of my feet don't matter too much. PS - they handle pretty well on roofs, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman33_99 Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 PS - they handle pretty well on roofs, too. Don't you know that running around on roofs with loaded guns is dangerous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidwiz Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Zappos is proably going to have the best on-line price, not to mention that they offer 110% money back guarantee if you find a lower price plus they almost always offer free shipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybrosh Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 What about the Oakley SI Assault SHOE? http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/2317927/c/3.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDave Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 PS - they handle pretty well on roofs, too. Don't you know that running around on roofs with loaded guns is dangerous Hey, they're part of the free fire zone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritinUSA Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Personally I like these ones from Dita, they are imported from England and the tread pattern is perfect for IPSC, they work great on any surface, sand, grass even concrete.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmshtr Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 These are the hardest shoes in the world to find. I've been searching for Dita Turf Lite (Grey) shoes for the last hour. Does anyone know where to get these in the US for under $80? My Bates Spyder Scouts have been discontinued and are only available for prices WAY more than they're worth. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sterling White Posted November 26, 2004 Author Share Posted November 26, 2004 Brit, what kind of feedback can you give on the shoes? I'm interested in traction, comfort, affordability, and a shoe that doesn't breakdown after a dozen wears. The pic above is a little too colorful for me...do they have an all black shoe? Or black/grey? Hey Phil, Thinking about distributing Dita's? When will they be available? sw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritinUSA Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 I got mine here, lots of different styles to choose from... They may be available in sport stores that specialise in field hockey as that's what they were designed for... The fabric is breathable and are comfortable even if worn the whole day at the range. The sizing tends to run on the small size, so go half a size bigger than normal. If you spend all day on your feet at the range then your feet will swell a little so you need a little wiggle room. CleanRun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPatterson Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 The The Sportmans Guide has had several of the Bates boots in their catalog lately including models that the Bates website has listed as discontinued. When ordering Bates it helps if you have tried some on before. In New Balance shoes I wear a 12 EE but in Bates an 11 wide still needed heavy sport socks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmshtr Posted November 29, 2004 Share Posted November 29, 2004 I just ordered some dita turf pro's on sale. I'll see how they do. I'm sure they'll look cool with my new shirts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SP-Rocket Posted November 29, 2004 Share Posted November 29, 2004 hey Skipper, How about the rest of us? We want to look cool too!! Rocket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sterling White Posted November 29, 2004 Author Share Posted November 29, 2004 D'oh! Dude, you gotta keep the team looking sharp! Do those things come in bear sizes!?! Did you follow the link above to order from...don't be a grinch - do tell! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmitz Posted November 29, 2004 Share Posted November 29, 2004 No EU-size 49 for me Shure, they look cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Dame Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 I was looking thru a co-workers paintball magazine and saw an add for paintball cleats . Has anyboy tried this route yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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