PacketFiend wrote:
I've always used army surplus bags. I'm not sure about American military sleeping bags, but the Canadian ones have three layers - an outer layer, inner layer (both down filled), and then a fleece liner. You can use as many or as few as you need, which makes them very configurable to the exact circumstances.
I've slept outside at -40°C in one (coulda been -50 or -30), on a picnic table, so from personal experience, they're quite warm when they need to be.
As an added bonus, place your clothes for the next morning between the liner and the inner, and they're toasty warm when you wake up, and you don't even need to crawl out of the bag to get them on.
They can be a bit restrictive when you use the whole kit'n'kaboodle though, and like most army surplus gear, anything but light. Generally though, mummy bags are what you want for winter. The less dead space the better.
You sort of mentioned it but army bags suck if your broad in the shoulders. I’ve owned the Canadian and American cold weather bag systems. Both are way too small for me. I’m 5’8” and 250lbs.