Chuck Dietl is the owner behind Plessinger Sportswear, for over 25 years a maker of custom vests for trapshooters and skeet shooters. Chuck has been an International shooter for nearly 40 years, shooting both the trap and skeet disciplines in that time giving him a complete understanding and long experience with the shooting vest needs of the men and women of both the American and International shooting communities.

Questions? Comments?

Chuck may be reached at: 702.642.8128. Email: patandchuck@cox.net

(If you would like to order a custom vest, please see the bottom of the page -- after the article -- for ordering information and pricing.)

Chuck Dietl On The
Proper-Fitting Shooting Vest:

The vest must be well fitting. This gives the shooter sense that he has eliminated one source of potential error and an opportunity to express himself; look good, feel good, do well. Fit at chest, waist and length are important. Fit at the chest means that the mounting area for the gun is not going to shift during approach to the target nor under recoil, recovery and firing of the second shot, thus maintaining eye/gun target relationship. Fit at the waist has two components; waist diameter and belt/cinch position. The waist must be reasonably well fitting so that the belt/cinch will take the load of the shell pockets at the waist/hips rather than the shoulders which must be free of the stress of holding the weight of the shells for the shot to be executed properly.

Lengths should be such that the shell pockets can be accessed comfortably, the vest is good looking and obviously fits when worn. Much like a dress coat, the vest loses something as a garment worn proudly and comfortably when either too long or too short. The foregoing was obviously masculine in tone but too often I see ladies relegated to wearing a men's vest or a poor fitting ladies vest: too large/small in the bust or waist and usually much too long as ladies are generally shorter waisted. Ladies, don't accept that you can't have something that suits your build and personality. There are a number of custom manufacturers out there who will make a vest to fit your needs and wants. Again, the vest should fit your bust, size to your waist and fit your hips as suits you without being restrictive or ill fitting. Also, some will ask you if you would like to select your own material, particularly if you would like something patterned or to suit your taste; flamboyant to staid and all shades in between. Ladies, if you wish to wear a shooting vest, by all means find one that enhances your performance or at least does not hinder it. Look good, feel good and perform to your potential. As to primary components of the vest, the pockets should accommodate the number of shells the shooter takes to the line [and perhaps hold your empties if you're saving -- WM] and allow easy access without being baggy.

For this I use a configuration called an envelope pocket which lies flat when empty but expands when loaded with expansion greater at the bottom to maximize capacity while confining the shells from spilling out the top. Trim at the pocket opening and inside as well as a lining maximize useful life. The mounting surface for the gun is especially important, as this governs holding the position of the gun butt through the shot, comfort of the vest through its useful life and feel of the gun when mounted. A minimum amount of padding in the pad is desirable to maintain shape of the pad but should not be intended for recoil absorption. Enough padding to mitigate recoil interferes with feel of the butt when mounted, preventing a consistent mount essential to a consistent eye, gun, target relationship. Recoil mitigation should be in gun fit, accessories and ammunition selection. The mounting surface is generally cloth, natural leather, split cowhide or micro fiber. Cloth is fine but may be prone to allow the gun to slip. The same applies to micro fiber (ultra suede) and I feel wear life is also shorter than other materials. Many vests use split cowhide. In this system a thin layer of leather is bonded to a backing. This can wear through to the backing, particularly if there is a crease causing a stressor.

I feel that the best source is natural leather, either smooth or suede. The suedes in my  experience have been pigskin, cowhide, and goat skin. I have very limited experience with pigskin so I won't comment. Cowhide seems to wear smooth and must be roughened occasionally and tends to be thicker. The best I've experienced is goat skin, very soft and supple while maintaining its surface and tackiness for a very long time. Smooth leathers in my experience are kangaroo, goat skin, and garment grade cowhide. Kangaroo wore like iron but was, and maybe is, protected. Again, goat skin is very good, but I believe garment grade cowhide is equally as good. It is as soft, maintains its surface perhaps better and maintains the gun in position through the shot. Goat skins are necessarily smaller that cowhides so getting unblemished areas is harder and thus more expensive without commensurate benefit, though if a suede surface is required, this would be my choice. Also, I have had good experience laundering vests with cowhide trim, washing them in Woolite, air drying and moisturizing the leather with a skin cream.

The vest comes in three basic configurations; all cloth body, cloth front/mesh back. And all mesh. My recommendation is most often the cloth front/mesh back. The cloth front provides more directional stability than mesh while the mesh back provides cooling. This works in winter and summer as. we are not generally using the vest for warmth and the full international pad, lined pocket and other accessories in the front limit mesh front cooling to a point of being impractical anyway.

Finally, accessorizing the vest becomes a matter of personal taste and requirements. The offside shell pocket is big enough to hold your empties for reloading, but if you use it for second barrel shells you may want a rear pouch. Piggy back pockets for a hanky or second barrel shells, a pocket for extra glasses/lenses, a pocket for an extra trigger group or choke tubes are all possibilities. Leather epaulets protect the shoulder from wear if you habitually carry it broken over your shoulder. A towel ring built in saves other areas from abuse when hanging a towel from the vest. Embroidery with your name, etc. is always nice. A choice of colors in cloth, mesh and leather may also be desirous and while accessorizing is necessarily limited in off the shelf vest, the choices are more numerous from a custom manufacturer. And while I've talked about trap vests most specifically, much the same applies to an international skeet vest as well as vests for any of the clay target sports with accessories making the vest more sport specific.

Now please continue for the shameless plug: I've been providing quality shooting vests for all levels of shooters from tyros to Olympic champions, both men and ladies, for some 25 years and am proud of the product.

Here are some representative pictures:

Derek Partridge very happy with his Chuck Dietl vest!

The classic bunker shooting vest design

All pictures courtesy of Derek Partridge

Chuck Dietl in a vest of his own design. (Note that the pad is of the not-extended type.)

A classic International Skeet shooter's vest style

. . . so if you are interested please proceed to download the order form or contact me at:

Download Vest Order Form (PDF)