Mail armour tunic XL

Mail armour tunic XL

Size of the mail armour tunic:

• 122cm – Chest perimeter
• 48.5cm - Sleeve length, measured from centre of the shoulder joint
• 74.5cm - Length from the edge of neckline in the centre (straight vertically) to the lower edge of the chain mail tunic
• 83.0cm - Length from the edge of neckline on the side (from shoulder hem, straight vertically) to the lower edge of the chain mail tunic

The mail armour tunic XL is made out of rings with the following parameters:

• 1.6mm – thickness of the wire
• 9,5mm – inner diameter of rings
• 12.7mm – outer diameter of rings

Mail armour and historical re-enactment

Many historical reenactment groups, especially those whose focus is Antiquity or the Middle Ages, commonly use mail both as practical armour tunic XL and for costuming. Mail is especially popular amongst those groups which use steel weapons. A fighter wearing hauberk and chausses can run, lie, stand up, jump, do somersaults (or even cartwheels), and even swim wearing full armour, depending on the fitness of the wearer. A modern hauberk made from 1.5mm diameter wire with 10mm inner diameter rings weighs roughly 10 kg and contains 15.000–45.000 rings. Mail can be used under everyday clothes and many reenactors wear a hauberk under their regular clothes to accustom themselves to it.

One of the two real drawbacks of mail is the uneven weight distribution; the stress falls mainly on shoulders. Weight can be better distributed by wearing a belt over the mail, which provides another point of support.

A reenactment of a long-distance march conforming to service conditions in the Imperial Western Roman army has recently revealed that mail which is worn daily is effectively rustproof and self-polishing; the motion of the rings against each other keeps them scoured.