I like camouflage, always have and always will, so over the years I have accumulated several different countries' camo uniforms. So I figured, why not test it all and see what works. I had originally planned for a large test with lots of distances and different terrain. Once I started walking around my property I realized that I did not have many different terrians and not very much flat space from which I could observe camo from great distances. So it ended up with a 50yd “range” in a field, I walked about 2 or 3 feet into the forest and wrapped a shirt around a tree so it looked like a person was wearing it. I tested the camo at 3 ranges, 50yds, 25yds, and 12yds. I figured this was OK because I figured that just about anything not bright orange works at long distances and you really need camo when you are up close.

The Patterns:

I had 7 different patterns and one “control” of Olive Drab. The patterns were:

US Issue Woodland
Dutch issue DPM (same as British, as far as I can tell)
Portuguese (the picture does not do it justice, it is light green base, with dark green and reddish brown brush strokes over it)
Rhodesian (US made repo, but the same as original)
US issue night desert
French 3-color day desert (a lot like a combo of US 3 color day desert and 6-color day desert)
US 3 color day desert
OD green (an old shelter half)

The tests:

US Woodland
50- Very hard to see, If I look away, hard to find, edges hard to find, would have missed it if I did not know it was there.
25- Fairly easy to pick out (if you know where it is), missed it on my first quick scan.
12- Would most likely not have missed it.

DPM
50- Missed it first scan. Hard to pick up, would have missed it if I had not known it was there.
25- Same as woodland
12- Same as woodland

Portuguese
50- Hard to see, not as hard to see as woodland or DPM, but missed it on my first scan. Breaks up out line very well.
25- Can see it, but edges are very hard to find, would not know where to shoot.
12- Edges still hard to find, but I can see it.

Rhodesian
50- I can see it, but very hard to make out. Can’t find edges. If I did not know it was there, would have a very hard time finding it.
25- I can see most of it, Parts are hard to see.
12- Can see it fairly well.

Night Desert
50- I can see it fairly well. Looks like a big blob.
25- Same as above.
12- Easy to see, can see grid pattern now.

French 3 color day desert
50- Easy to see, but better than US 3 color day desert.
25- Worse
12- very bad

US 3 color day desert
50- Bad, sticks out like a sore thumb.
25- Same.
12- Worse

OD Green
50- Can see it only if I look really hard, miss it on quick scan.
25- Still hard to see. Similar to DPM or Woodland on visibility.
12. Can see it pretty good, not as hard to see as DPM or Woodland at this range.

Conclusions:

 The Woodland and DPM patterns performed the best in the test, with a slight edge to woodland. Portuguese was slightly better than Rhodesian, and the desert patterns were all tied for dead last. The real surprises of the test was the OD green. Worked almost as good as the camo, until I got closer.

NOTES: The area where I live is probably important to note. I live in the Pacific Northwest, to those of you who don’t know, this area is known for large coniferous forests, and this is the type of terrain where I conducted my test. There were some deciduous trees mixed in and a lot of undergrowth. I used some of the desert because it was nearing the fall time of year, and some of the leaves were brown (evidently not enough). It was late afternoon, about 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. with the sun at my back.
 

MrF2

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