Expirienced boot wearer... Nice boots! -- I'm impressed!
For the money... this is a great pair of boots IMO! As good as any others on the market I've seen. Better than a good majority IMHO. As a bonafide senior (age ain't nothin' but a number ;-) ) I've been wearing boots my entire life from riding/engineer styles to western and military. I wanted zippered entry since at the time of this review I'm nursing a broken heel in the final stages of recovery. ...Yep!, I'm walkin' on it again and have been for a while thank you ;-).Being my first pair of zippered-entry boots I wasn't expecting much in the way of durability or overall strength. Gotta say I'm impressed! I highly recommend these boots because...1) Zipper is good quality smooth-action brass and not coated plastic or pot metal. Well sewn IMO.2) Zipper is full length but still stops right below the ankle so if you accidentally step in a little puddle slightly deeper than the sole/heal area you won't get a boot full; unlike a couple other brands I looked at.3) Nice thick rubber-lug-soles for reasonably solid footing in gravel etc, at least as good as the gravel allows.4) Nice western narrow-flat-toe styling (not the giant ugly square toe style that looks like your toes have been chopped off). Looks good but not pointed and boot taper doesn't cramp your foot/toes like many true pointed western boots have a tendency to do because true western style boots are typically narrow D widths_(idk why; getting better ...but still) unless you ask for and they offer or list wide versions.5) The rivets and braiding up the one side aren't as bad as initially thought. Braiding isn't through to the inside. I don't even notice them and your pant leg will cover them anyway. Speaking of pant legs, top of boot zipped up is wide enough for the average Joe and not so wide it's obvious under your pant leg unless your small legged and wearing stovepipe/strait-leg pants._Big gents with exceptionally wide legs or super big calves might want to think twice here. The top inside circumference of my size 10 boots are 16 inches. Height tapers 11 inches down to the inside heel evenly from there. No offense or insult intended... just sayin'. Yha I know, it says 9 1/2 inch ordered above. I actually ordered a size 10, go figure.Since I have typically wide feet these are a comfortable fit. I'd say width wise these run wider than most standard offerings of this western style/cut, likely falling in the E width area just short of a EE IMO. If your not used to this style boot and your toes feel slightly cramped, that's to be expected. However!... if your toes feel a bit too cramped, a work-around is to order the next size up, add a pair of full-length-silicon-sole-inserts to raise your foot inside enough to fit comfortably against the top and it adds a comfy padded heel rest you'll like as well. Trust me; been doing this for decades because most boots don't have sole cushioning like work or tennis shoes. I'm talking about the ones that are about a 1/2" thick at the heel and taper off midway at the arch support down to 1/8-3/16" thick under the rest of your foot "which is more than enough thickness", believe me. Purpose of getting the next size up is to have extra room in length, and therefore more width at the toe area. Silicon sole inserts will take up the little extra room, in general lifting/placing your feet against the inside for a snug fit keeping your heel in place and foot not sliding down into the toe area... problem solved!Seems there's no sizing standards anymore and a good in depth review regarding footwear is essential IMHO. HTH some folks out there. Seems Milwaukee Leather got it right IMHO!... at least for these boots. Sized correctly.