Henry Rifle Forums

With the temperature heading to -45F with the wind chill I thought I would post about clothing. This post is all about footwear.

Left to right: size 9.5 Georgia Boot, lightweight and insulated. Good for driving and outdoors for a half hour with medium thick wool socks.

Size 10.5 Irish Setter, medium weight 1,000 gram Thinsulate. Good for all day outdoors down to zero and shorter times at colder temperatures. A size larger for thicker socks. Almost too big for driving but okay on the tractor.

Size 11.5 Guide Wear, heavy weight 3,000 gram Thinsulate. Good for all day at -45F with two pairs of heavy duty socks. The outer sock is huge so not to constrict circulation. Don’t even think about driving in these. They are monsters.

I’m really into wool for outer clothing. I have the tops and bottoms of these heavy duty wool.

Down is great for out and in wear however it get wet too easy. I wear them upstairs where I keep it at 62F
These next two are okay for dress. I have about a dozen different ones to go in style. They are something to wear to Church or dinner.
This is a thick medium long coat. Good for wearing in the car with just a shirt. I have another one exactly the same except it’s a large regular. Good for layering sweaters and vests but makes it too bulky for driving except on the tractor.

The rest of these are all Filson. They are very thick double wool. The sleeves have a thick inner wool lining and the back is caped. This outfit is often called an Alaskan Tuxedo.

A Filson Double Makinaw is a fantastic coat. I like wool items too. Most of mine is LL Bean.

I love wool outdoor clothing. I still have my wool bibs, wool pants and wool jacket from my hunting days. A couple of years ago I bought a pair of boots like your -45* shown above. Mine are labeled Cabelas but they sure are warm. I worn them everyday burning last week and my toes were toasty.

Don't see a 3000 gram Guide Wear boot, did find a 2400 gram one that looks similar to your photo.
https://www.sportsmansguide.com/product ... ?a=2339532

How do you think they compare to a pair of Sorrel Caribou's? I have lousy circulation and my feet can sometimes get cold wearing them without a set of toe warmers.

daytime dave wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 21, 2026 10:54 am

A Filson Double Makinaw is a fantastic coat. I like wool items too. Most of mine is LL Bean.

I have some LL Bean but most are vintage Woolrich and Eddie Bauer.

dave77 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 21, 2026 1:40 pm

Don't see a 3000 gram Guide Wear boot, did find a 2400 gram one that looks similar to your photo.
https://www.sportsmansguide.com/product ... ?a=2339532

How do you think they compare to a pair of Sorrel Caribou's? I have lousy circulation and my feet can sometimes get cold wearing them without a set of toe warmers.

I saw a 2400 and a 3000. Sorrel is a higher cost and quality of boot. They can last 40 years. If I get five years out of the Guide I’ll be happy. Insulation wise they are both good.

They are huge and take a wide leg pant to fit over them.
Edit: you are right they are 2400 gram.

Sir Henry wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 21, 2026 1:42 pm

daytime dave wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 21, 2026 10:54 am

A Filson Double Makinaw is a fantastic coat. I like wool items too. Most of mine is LL Bean.

I have some LL Bean but most are vintage Woolrich and Eddie Bauer.

That makes sense, you are from the west of the US and I'm from the east.

daytime dave wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 21, 2026 2:32 pm

Sir Henry wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 21, 2026 1:42 pm

daytime dave wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 21, 2026 10:54 am

A Filson Double Makinaw is a fantastic coat. I like wool items too. Most of mine is LL Bean.

I have some LL Bean but most are vintage Woolrich and Eddie Bauer.

That makes sense, you are from the west of the US and I'm from the east.

Not a lot of Easterners have heard of Filson. It’s far more common in Seattle. I didn’t own any Stormy Kromers until I moved here.

Around here it's Carhart for cold weather. I have two jackets. One is a simple cold weather jacket and the other is a heavy duty hooded parka.

https://www.carhartt.com/product/106980 ... active-jac

I also have snow mobile boots it it get too bad, but for most weather I just wear my old Red Wings. I have two pair. They never seem to wear out. I pick them up and think that these things are just too heavy to walk in, but then they're not a problem.

For those not familiar, Red Wings are made locally and are really thick leather. I wear them all Winter and usually never get cold feet. The reason I have two pair is that I burned the tread off one pair sitting with my feet to close to a fire ring. I never even felt hot, but the soles were melting.

These boots are normally around $350 but I bought the second pair for $150 when the factory had a tent sale of over stocked shoes. I love them.

https://www.redwingshoes.com/mens/herit ... d=heritage

For footwear, I used to have a pair of Rocky Snow Stalker boots. They had a thick layer of Thinsulate, along with a separate bootie that had another thick layer, kind of like the old felt bootie some rubber boots used to have. I think that was 1000 grams total of Thinsulate, and they were great. As things sometimes happen, my son, who has a bigger foot than me, took to wearing them without the bootie, and they fit him well like that. So ended my use of those boots....LOL.
I'm just using the layering technique now for clothing. I have an UnderArmor Cold-gear top, which is very thin neoprene, that goes on first. Then a couple thermals, and the big thing for me is getting outerwear that has windblocker, in whatever brand name the manufacturer uses. That seems to make a big difference for me.
I started using the little single use toe warmers in my boots, which currently are North Face Snowfuse boots. They have an adhesive side, and I'll stick them to the top of my sox at the toes right when I put on my boots. I can't feel them when they're on the top, and they keep my toes warm for as long as I want to sit when I'm hunting.
My neighbor has taken to using a heated jacket and he says it's a game changer for him. I'm going to have to look into that.

Sir Henry wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 21, 2026 1:42 pm

daytime dave wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 21, 2026 10:54 am

A Filson Double Makinaw is a fantastic coat. I like wool items too. Most of mine is LL Bean.

I have some LL Bean but most are vintage Woolrich and Eddie Bauer.

My woolies are all Woolrich. There used to be a western wear store in Spokane that carried a huge section of Woolrich. Also we used to have an Eddie Bauer store downtown and I miss that one too. Now it’s pretty much the big box stores carrying modern fabrics and not much wool.

My slow internet can't handle all the pics so I can't see any but I looked up Filson and I liked the looks but my wallet shut me down.

Ernie wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 22, 2026 2:41 pm

My slow internet can't handle all the pics so I can't see any but I looked up Filson and I liked the looks but my wallet shut me down.

I had to sell 10% of a kidney to afford the double Mackinaw.

Hatchdog wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 22, 2026 10:39 am

Sir Henry wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 21, 2026 1:42 pm

daytime dave wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 21, 2026 10:54 am

A Filson Double Makinaw is a fantastic coat. I like wool items too. Most of mine is LL Bean.

I have some LL Bean but most are vintage Woolrich and Eddie Bauer.

My woolies are all Woolrich. There used to be a western wear store in Spokane that carried a huge section of Woolrich. Also we used to have an Eddie Bauer store downtown and I miss that one too. Now it’s pretty much the big box stores carrying modern fabrics and not much wool.

Pendleton is also a good brand. I have several Board shirts.

These are some of my mittens. I wear more mitts than gloves. These inner mitts are thick dense wool and I’ve had them for about 50 years. The outer shells are about half that old and need to be replaced. These have been to the top of Mt Rainier many times. The dense felt is good insulation for holding a metal ice ax.
Good mitts for when you need to use your fingers. So-so insulation alone but can be used with the shells above.
Cheap military shooting mitts.
Nice Stormys. I have the vest to match. These are my Sunday mitts.
Another Stormy hat and North Face mittens. These are really warm.
Cheap extras I keep in the car.
I also wear gators.

I have a Filson Elmer Fudd hat. It's a nice hat. I have Woolrich hunting jackets, bibs and pants. All in the Malone Pattern.

Sir Henry wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 22, 2026 2:52 pm

Ernie wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 22, 2026 2:41 pm

My slow internet can't handle all the pics so I can't see any but I looked up Filson and I liked the looks but my wallet shut me down.

I had to sell 10% of a kidney to afford the double Mackinaw.

What is a kidney going for nowadays? I may have to check.

Ernie wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 22, 2026 6:08 pm

Sir Henry wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 22, 2026 2:52 pm

Ernie wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 22, 2026 2:41 pm

My slow internet can't handle all the pics so I can't see any but I looked up Filson and I liked the looks but my wallet shut me down.

I had to sell 10% of a kidney to afford the double Mackinaw.

What is a kidney going for nowadays? I may have to check.

If you have to ask you can’t afford it.

When I went shooting this weekend (sorry, it was with my Nikon), I was plenty warm with some long johns, a sweater and a long sleeve shirt. However, my hands got very cold. It was around 30, early on, and the knit gloves I had on just weren't cutting it. I cut off half of the right index and thumb to give me good control of shutter and control buttons and wheels. That worked well for control, but those two fingers got especially cold. One of my friends was leaving and offered me the Hot Hands warmers he had fired up earlier. That made a big difference.

I don't often need really warm gloves, but when I do, I need them. I need to go look and see what's available. Not sure any of them are worth a kidney, though.