I have heard many conflicting opinions, so I want to ask you folks.
When buying a vintage pair of jungle boots (Vietnam-era), should you go one size up or one size down from your shoe size?
For example: I wear an 11 in Converse high-tops and have been told/have read that this indicates that I am a true size 12 (normal) shoe.
I’ve seen size 10 jungle boots on eBay whose measurements matched up to where they would fit me. That would be two sizes lower than my shoe size. Needless to say, I’m very confused.
I personally always go one size up with all boots I wear, but especially with jungle boots. It provides me room to put a pair of shoe inserts inside, and even let me wear wool socks if I need to.
And they fit pretty much the same. The boots aren’t old though, they’re “RG Response Gear Tactical Boots” from like 3 years ago. And the shoes are DC skate shoes from a few years ago. My New Balance running shoes might be a different size too, but the number has worn off. With shoes, I always have to try them on due to those kinds of inconsistencies. So if I were you and I wanted those boots, I’d go to an army surplus store or wherever carries them…
Get em a size bigger Zac. U.S. GI or foreign they all fit pretty much the same. I wear more Jungle boots than anyone here. As an Army Ranger, I wore nothing but, and I did bail enforcement for 10 years in Vegas and I wore them every day. Now I still have 3 pair and I wear coveralls almost every day for after work clothes and well, I wear black jungle boots with all my blues and green jungle boots with all my greens.
Like Davy said a size larger so you can put inserts in, they are not known for comfort, but as far as boots go…I wouldn’t wear anything else
The boots I wear are low cut and are actually really comfortable…I think they had like three sizes and mine were the lowest cut, so they’re kinda somewhere between boots and shoes. Not exactly what you’d call jungle boots, they’re made of vinyl, not leather…and cost me about $20 but are virtually indestructible…got em at Big 5 sporting goods store while I was shopping for a firearm…
Thanks for the responses, everyone.
What’s weird is literally every pair of 10’s I asked for measurements of were dead-on with my foot measurements (I mean they would fit me). I should wear a size 12 in normal shoes so that would mean you guys think I should go for 13’s. All the size 13 boots I inquired upon were literally 13 inches and my feet are a little over 11" long. They wouldn’t be too big?
They run big. I bought a black pair that has the same look and make as the green pairs most people buy and I bought it intentionally smaller and it was still too large. I usually buy an 11.5-12 boot and a 12 sneaker wide or extra wide (my feet have actually shrunk as I used to wear a 12.5 boot and 12.5-13 sneaker; my current boots are a size 12 wide and they can be too tight in width, my feet are 11 7/16 inches long and 4 13/16 and 4 10/16 inches wide at the start of the day before walking around). I bought a size 11 wide jungle boot as I heard they run large, and it was still a half size too large.
Perhaps boots actually made in the Vietnam War era run differently, or perhaps age has warped them, but I wouldn’t chance it.
