Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Nothing against the vendor, they are selling real honest-to-goodness Vietnam GI-issue trip wire here. This is how it really came, and was issued out to LRRPs, Recon, Special Forces, Tunnel Rats, etc. That said, this stuff is therefore 40+ years old, and since it is iron-steel wire, it has been from the U.S., to Indochina, back to the U.S., and spent 40+ years oxidizing the whole way. The original strength on this supposed 24-gauge wire was 20+ lbs tensile. It was primarily a trip wire to use for setting up Claymore mines, but found other uses in survival as improvised trip wiring, and even small game snares. It's primary purpose was detonation triggering, however, and as such, it was NOT considered actual 'survival' wire, as much as 'mine wire'. The only special forces application I can think of where this was used in 'trapping and snaring' was in the hanging of fishhooks at eye level in heavy canopy for 'patrol deterrence'. OUCH. As for making your own snares, you might come out better looking at modern brass wire in the 18-20 gauge range. No 'smell', no severe metal loss due to oxidation, and it slides better than this stuff when tying your 'snare eyes'. Cost is comparable when you aren't trying to deceive 'human eyes' that it isn't there. I rate it 2-stars, due to being an iron-based wire, and the serious oxidation that all of it I have seen being significantly degraded, combined with it not being originally designed as a 'survival' or 'snare' wire, but as a trip wire for mine deployment, and with age, it is greatly weakened over it's original strength.