Allright, as you might know I'm really big into maille as armor. I've been into it so much that I have already purchased 3 hauberks in the past and sold a few due to being dissatisfied with them. I've handled a lot of different makes of maille and have seen almost every major company's products. I've studied it obsessively and closely and know what I am talking about when it comes to maille.
First off ABS did take a while to communicate with, the emails are usually slow and waiting for a response. But considering they're a busy company that sells a lot of maille thats to be expected, i'm not their top priority so they did take their time with me, but I always did get a response. They were very straightforward and answered my questions really easily and clearly.
After ordering they gave me customization options.
This is the one I ordered:
http://allbeststuff.com/c-medieval-chainmail-armor/Round-Riveted-Chain-Mail-Shirt/Round-Washer-Chain-Mail-Suit-Hauberk-Coif-Ventail-Mittens-ChaussesI customized it by giving it a 48 inch chest instead of 52, I'm a pretty lithe guy and most off the rack stuff does not fit me well it's usually too baggy. So they said that wasnt a problem at all and said they could. I also asked them to give me leather palms and only a small amount of oil on the coating. They were able to do it. I went with the 16 gauge round ring round riveted, as it's the closest thing to 1100s maille I could find on the market. I also asked for a separate coif, as I already have the perfect coif and having an integrated one would be troublesome to use if I wanted to use my current one. So they threw in a separate coif and they asked me if I wanted a ventail which I said sure, because why not, my current one doesnt have that, that would be nice to have. Lastly I got some chausses with this set, as my old ones were way too tight and uncomfortable as they were meant to be laced in the back. I gave them my size and they charged me 490 for the whole set. I payed the invoice by the end of February and they oddly gave me free shipping, probably cause it was a large expensive order. It was cheaper to buy the entire set now than buy it separate so I took advantage of that even though it did make me spend more than I wanted to originally.
Month passes still no word, then by the end of March they email me the tracking number it took about 5 days to get here from India which I was quite anxious about it as I never usually order overseas, and I've been burned in the past about cheap crappy maille. I wasnt expecting it to be much better but I decided to take the chance because my current ones tailored poorly and I wanted the right kind of tailoring job.
Well it arrived today in the morning. I got it opened it up. First thing I noticed is despite this being 16 gauge round, it's not that much heavier than my 17 gauge wedge riveted GDFB hauberk. They also didnt soak it in oil, it was only a light coat like I asked for, that gets a thumbs up from me. The riveting job was better than any other indian maille i've seen. All the solid punched links face the same way, it looks nice and even and the rivets arent punched or set poorly. I noticed NONE of them came out even when shaking it, that gets another thumbs up from me.
Heres a closeup of the rings, in general they're well set, better than GDFB Icefalcon or some other indian company I ordered those mittens from.
It came with mittens with leather palms, like I asked for, the leather is a suede but it's soft and rather ok, not sure of the long term durability but it does make a bad string as the string on the coif snapped on me, I never had a good experience with suede as string so I will have to replace it with something more durable. They did forget to put a slit in the bottom of the hauberk, that made it extremely difficult to put on by myself, but I did get it on, had my mother mark where to cut it on both sides so I will be fixing that shortly. The fit is rather well, a bit more snug than my other hauberks but thats only around the armpit, it's not overly so and it doesnt really affect my ability to raise my arms or put them down. Heres a picture of me wearing it:
The sleeves were better tailored than my own tailoring job on my GDFB wedge riveted hauberk
No bingo wings here, as they taper just fine, I dont have to do that pesky tailoring Oh yes that is great. I highly reccomend asking them to taper the sleeves, they'll do it in a way thats much better than off the rack or butchering your own hauberk and doing it yourself. For someone with a shakey hand condition like myself which makes riveting maille excruciatingly difficult this is a real bonus for me. Properly fitted and better fitted than my old one.
The coif leaves a lot to be desired. I dont have pics of me wearing it but it's just like a typical baggy indian made coif. It has a rectangle of maille attached to the side that goes over the face. The neck has a small hole in it even with the ventail, but he did pack me some extra rings to remedy that which I will be doing shortly once Elliot mails me back my riveting tool. Dont like how it pulls my hair though, I am going to have to cut a lot of excess off. Also the string that holds the ventail snapped easily, probably because the leather is suede which while fine for mitten palms and ventail padding, sucks for tying and string. I will be replacing that after I cut this coif down to have a square avantail and close up the neck gap, I also will be adding a linen liner simply so it does not rip my hair out. That is a period solution and probably will improve the look of it.
The chausses are better suited for full legs, they're a bit baggy but on your legs you WANT that baggyness, it wont bunch up around the knees and they're comfortable and I can bend down and put my legs up to my chest just fine, the shoe covers are also nice and small and might need little to no cutting.
All in all I recommend ABS, their hauberks are better quality than all the other indian makers even though their coifs leave a bit to be desired, so do all the other indian coif makers, then again I have a Schmid coif so I am pretty spoiled by coifs, for you it should be fine if you modify it.
I give them 9 out of 10 stars only minusing because of the coif which should be better constructed, everything else is pretty much the best you can get.
