Official — for public release Field Manual MSU-01 · Issue 2026 · Independent
Military Surplus UK The Quartermaster's Field Manual

Preface

About this manual

Military Surplus UK is an independent field manual for people buying British and NATO surplus. Retailers sell kit. We help you read it, with decoders for sizes, camo patterns and stock numbers, and researched UK stockists for every category.

We don't sell anything

Every "Visit stockist" button sends you to an independent retailer's own website. Purchases, payment, delivery and customer service are handled entirely by them.

Why links go through /go/

Every offsite link on this site, including photo credits, goes through a local redirect (URLs starting /go/) rather than straight to the destination. When you click one, we log which link it was, which page it came from and roughly when, then send you on. We never store your IP address. It's one-way hashed so we can estimate unique visits without keeping anything that identifies you.

Affiliate links

None of the links on this site are affiliate links today. Stockists are listed on merit and nobody has paid for placement. We use the click data above to see which stockists readers actually use, and may apply to affiliate programmes for the most popular ones later. If we do, your price won't change and we'll update this page.

How stockists are chosen

We list established, UK-facing military surplus businesses and militaria dealers. Being listed isn't an endorsement of every product they sell. Always check a stockist's returns policy, sizing guidance and reviews before you buy.

Accuracy

The decoders are built from published NATO sizing and codification conventions. Conversions are approximate and brands vary, so treat results as a guide and check the stockist's own size chart.

Appendix — Photo credits

Credits & licences

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0. Images were cropped and resized for this site.

ImageAuthorLicenceSource
Two desert-painted British Land Rover 110 patrol vehicles loaded with kit, jerrycans and camouflage netting Land Rover 110 patrol vehicles, fully kitted Unknown photographer Public domain Wikimedia Commons
British soldier in Multi-Terrain Pattern (MTP) combat clothing and helmet in woodland MTP combat clothing in the field Cpl Barry Lloyd RLC / MoD OGL v1.0 Wikimedia Commons
Army reservists in MTP cooking ration packs on a hexamine stove with mess tins Mess tins, hexi stove and ration boxes on exercise Lt Col John Skliros / MoD OGL v1.0 Wikimedia Commons
First World War entrenching tool with a steel blade and wooden handle WWI entrenching tool, 3rd NZ Rifle Brigade Auckland War Memorial Museum CC BY 4.0 Wikimedia Commons
Rear of a British Army patrol vehicle on a wet road during Exercise Trident Juncture British patrol vehicle, Exercise Trident Juncture 2018 Cpl Ben Beale / MoD OGL v1.0 Wikimedia Commons
Group of First and Second World War campaign medals with ribbons WWI and WWII campaign medal group Auckland War Memorial Museum CC BY 4.0 Wikimedia Commons
Swatch of British Multi-Terrain Pattern (MTP) camouflage fabric MTP swatch Amanda Reynolds / MoD OGL v1.0 Wikimedia Commons
Swatch of British temperate DPM camouflage fabric from the Combat 95 system DPM (Combat 95) swatch Cpl Adrian Harlen RLC / MoD OGL v1.0 Wikimedia Commons
Swatch of British two-colour desert DPM camouflage fabric Desert DPM swatch Graeme Main / MoD OGL v1.0 Wikimedia Commons
Swatch of US M81 Woodland camouflage pattern M81 Woodland swatch U.S. Army Public domain Wikimedia Commons
Swatch of German Flecktarn camouflage pattern Flecktarn swatch Thimbleweed CC BY-SA 3.0 Wikimedia Commons

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