RE: Knuckle boots, who makes
I don't know how to tell them all apart as far as whom made them where but I can say that the vast majority of them are made over seas as there is only one US contractor that makes rubber products for US military vehicles. The only real way to tell would be by their packaging as it contains the cage code, NSN, build spec, manufacture and expiration data.
I have looked at most of the boots available on the market with a few exceptions which I have just not had the chance to get a hold of. Without naming names (not right of me to do as a vendor) 98% of the vendors we all know (including myself) are selling imports. The solid type which have popped up here recently with a few vendors I have not had the chance to look at first hand but there have been a posting or two in the past months complaining about them going bad after only a few months of service... Could be imports or could be NOS... speaking of NOS...
I've seen a few postings about finding surplus boots being a better idea... Just because it came from the military it is in no way guarantee that they are US produced boots as units can, will and do buy from whom ever they choose with a cage code which does include companies that sell reproduction, aftermarket and imported parts. Also... NOS rubber parts are not always a good choice... Rubber parts, seal lips, wiper blades, etc degrade in storage... Sometimes import or not, paying the extra $ for a new v/s NOS surplus is the better way to go! This is part of the reason I don't sell NOS or surplus parts, sometimes its a great deal, sometimes it isn't.
As I said in a posting yesterday... I should have new production, US made boots for both the 2.5 and 5 tons coming into the store in about 2 weeks... They are not going to be cheapest thing you can buy but they are the real deal, new stock and directly from the manufacture... and I will still offer the imports to give people the choice.
I've got the American-made USGI non-zipper 5 Ton knuckle boots - $20ea or two for $36: