Shooting Jacket Sizes.

[zooma]

When I bought my first Gehmann shooting jacket some years ago I was able to try a few sizes (thanks to Ryan at Intershoot) and found them all to be a bit claustrophobic, but I eventually chose a size 54 which seemed plenty tight enough.

After wearing it for around 3 years or so I had worn through the rifle pad on the right hand shoulder, and as I got more used to the feeling of being in a straight jacket I actually started to move the buttons inwards to make it fit tighter!

About then I was told about an advert (on the bay) for an "as new" all leather Gehmann shooting jacket - but it was a size 52. The price was good so I bought it and took a chance on the size and fortunately it fitted me like the preverbal glove. I am really pleased with this jacket and still wear it every week and keep it in the club, but a spare jacket at the right price would be handy for home shooting and as a reserve when I wanted to either get this one cleaned or repaired.

Recently (about 2 years on again), I saw another advert (same source) for a "once worn" size 52 shooting jacket and made an offer for it that was accepted. When the HTX jacket arrived I was surprised that I struggled to get it on - even the sleeves were tight (really tight!).

I am in the process of moving the buttons to get it to fit (just to be able to get into it) - but the tightness of the sleeves mean that I cannot wear my usual sweatshirt underneath (we shoot in a cellar - and it is never hot!) so it looks like this superb quality leather jacket will be relegated to summer use only when I can use it in the club without a sweatshirt or fear of freezing to death!

My home garage range is certainly no warmer in the winter so it is only going to work for me when it is warm - and I would prefer to always wear the same under garment (in my case a sweatshirt) but due to the very tight sleeves this will not be possible.

Anyway, the point about all of this is that the sizes of shooting jackets seems to vary considerably between manufacturers so I have learnt something - but why do HTX make the sleeves so tight? This is not an area that needs to be so tight surely?