Best place to buy USGI gear?

Look up local Army Navy stores. If you're in the NoVA area, then Ranger Surplus is a good bet. Otherwise, use online shopping through Amazon and purchase products only with returns allowed and at least two good independent user reviews.

different places have different gear. Sportsmansguide has good mil surp stuff. http://www.uscav.com also has some really good stuff, it isn't surplus, but it is good stuff. Coleman's military surplus is another good place. http://www.usmilitarysurplus.com/ is also good. http://www.armysurplusworld.com/ as well.

I have purchased from all of the above and can recommend them. Each one of them has different gear that they seem to specialize in, so they are all worth looking at depending on what you are buying.

bob? battery operated boyfriend?

Common term for "bug out bag"

Don't know what a BOB is... We called the sun that, Big Orange Ball. Anyway, outside US army bases, in particular infantry bases, there are always good surplus stores with good deals and they have everything. Look for the smaller less flashy ones. If you need to order by mail, I'm sure some will do that.

http://www.supplycaptain.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.Store

I've had good results with all purchases from Supply Captain. They carry a mix of old and new / G.I. issue and custom maker .mil gear.

As someone who spent a career in the Military, all of it in Combat Arms and most of it in the worst possible climates.
Why in the wide, wide world of sports would you want Military gear? There is so much better stuff out there.
See what gear Mountain Climbers, Backpackers and other such thrill seakers use; it's usually much better.

Why in the wide, wide world of sports would you want Military gear? There is so much better stuff out there.

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Price has a lot to do with it. Buying from REI is much more expensive.

Price has a lot to do with it. Buying from REI is much more expensive.
Believe me the lowest bidder on a Military contract could generally care less how wet cold and miserable the troops are. That dollar in your pocket is so well spent avoiding hypothermia and frost bite.

"Price has a lot to do with it. Buying from REI is much more expensive.
Believe me the lowest bidder on a Military contract could generally care less how wet cold and miserable the troops are. That dollar in your pocket is so well spent avoiding hypothermia and frost bite."

It's not so much a dollar in your pocket so much as it can add up to be a good 70-100 dollars or more. If you aren't making a lot of money, or you're not exactly free to do so or desirous of dropping a load of cash for clothing, milsurp stuff is a brilliant act of providence. A good warm durable jacket from teh REI can go for $110 at the cheapest end, often going into the $200's. You can get a just as good military surplus jacket for $30 at the gun show. For example, I paid $20 for a 1968 Czech army field jacket at a gun show. It is much more comfortable than my REI jacket, it is much cheaper because it doesn't cost $130, it is much more practical, and works great for freezing conditions, while the REI jacket is too thin to stay out for long in the cold. The best part is that in a few years, I'll be able to sell it as an antique and buy something really nice. It's actually held up very well for a thing the Communists made 43 years ago, though the camo pattern and all the issue marks are getting faded and a couple buttons have gone loose.

This is the milsurp jacket I'm talking about: http://shop.hassayampasurplus.com/product.sc?productId=1790&categoryId=109

This is the type of REI jacket I'm talking about: http://www.rei.com/product/820078/boulder-gear-tech-shell-jacket-mens-2010-closeout

For serious cold weather gear, I still buy from companies like North Face who make really really good coats for spending all day on a mountain.

I agree with Averageman. Once you have to live in Milspec stuff, you are living in the land of suck.
The REI store brand stuff is really not bad at all. Good, in fact.
I buy stuff in the opposite season and pay maybe 25% of retail. You have to know how to shop and when to say yes to a good deal. That comes from spending time on the bad end of sucky gear and losing out on good deals because you have to go to the internet and price check things.
Experience will teach you better than we can. Sally forth and learn the way we have.

FWIW, those two linked items are nowhere near the same. And, REI has a very nice lifetime guarantee. You have a part of the piece of Czech unravel and you're just out $30, or you fix it yourself.
I get economizing. I do. I've just learned that to be cheaper, sometimes you have to spend more initially.

When I was a kid I thought that everything the military used was the best. After spending time in the military, I now understand that everything the military uses is made by the cheapest bidder, to a 'one size fits all' specification. I still have lots of military gear in the mix, but I also have found that there are much better options for most applications.

For new G.I. gear, i go to uscav.com, rangerjoes.com, etc. If I am looking for a certain piece of used gear, I google it, and usually buy it from ebay.

Just join the real military and they give a the stuff you need for free

^^ I know what you mean. The quality of people who visit this forum has started to decline lately. I've stopped visiting lately.

To answer your question google 'IMS surpuls' they have some stuff I've wanted for my BOB

I love how some people think everyone has $100,000,000 to blow on guns/gear at any second. OP try Copes Distributing. They have alot of milsup stuff and flat shipping.

Barlog;
If a moderator comes along, please lock this thread, as I am not getting an answer to my questions, just opinion about things I didn't ask about.
If you live near a military post, please try your local Army Surplus or Pawn Shops first. My opinion, is just that an opinion; what I was trying to do is save you the money and aggrivation. Try on some Mil Spec used gear and shop around, buying Mil Spec gear through the internet is a gamble at best, condition and size mean a lot.
Things I would consider.
Gore Tex Jackets and pants, but even these will still let you get wet and cold, just not as fast.
Web Gear.
Things I wouldn't consider.
Sleeping bags, usually to bulky and heavy for the warmth they give.
Wet Weather gear.
Try Cheaper than Dirt when they have a shipping Free sale.

I like Vette's idea. I am in the process of putting a BOB together myself. I started with an ALICE pack and added to it. If you don't want chinese or junk items do your research. After buying several black folding G.I. shovels I found out they weren't govt. surplus. Not an expensive lesson learned but still a lesson learned. Good luck. Also, use the items and know how to operate them [stoves,first aid kits,ect.] before you need them.

Closed per OP request