Luftschutz M40 Beaded

[KradSpam]

IMO they are not combat rejects, but designed this way as a lightweight version of the familiar stahlhelm shape, with the bead added to the production process (as opposed to being added as an afterthought once the helmet had been deemed "reject") to quickly identify the lighter helmets. True factory reject helmets would have been reprocessed I think.

I don't have enough samples available to check but I would bet that beaded lids from the same firm and same model would all be made to standards as exacting as the combat models, at least in the same batch etc. Steel thickness would be the best measurement to take I think; the beaded helmets are definitely thinner, so if they are all the exact same thickness('all' meaning, all Q M35, etc) it would point to being designed this way.

If they were rejects I would expect a range of failings individual to each helmet, which earned each helmet it's bead.

[helmet2id]

Text book example. The liner is definitely correct. I like it a lot. Jim G.

[helmet2id]

IMO they are not combat rejects, but designed this way as a lightweight version of the familiar stahlhelm shape, with the bead added to the production process (as opposed to being added as an afterthought once the helmet had been deemed "reject") to quickly identify the lighter helmets. True factory reject helmets would have been reprocessed I think.

I don't have enough samples available to check but I would bet that beaded lids from the same firm and same model would all be made to standards as exacting as the combat models, at least in the same batch etc. Steel thickness would be the best measurement to take I think; the beaded helmets are definitely thinner, so if they are all the exact same thickness('all' meaning, all Q M35, etc) it would point to being designed this way.

If they were rejects I would expect a range of failings individual to each helmet, which earned each helmet it's bead.

It is generally accepted that the beaded helmets were, in fact, factory rejects that had failed ballistic testing during the manufacturing process. Rather than waste the time and effort to melt and reprocess the steel from the defective shell, it was simply put in a jig to crimp the bead so that the helmet would be easily recognized as a reject that was not to be issued to combat troops. These were more than sufficient to serve the purpose of protecting the wearer's head in behind the lines duties such as factory police duty, fire watch duty, etc. I have many beaded examples, and the defects on quite a few of them are readily apparent. Cheers, Jim G.

[Eric Zentner]

Nice LS Rene congrats and thanks for the info Jim.

Eric

[BOB COLEMAN]

I had a few of these in my old helmet collection. They had Luftschutz, police, reversed police and a combination of both decals. Some had leather liners and others the late war ersatz liner. Your helmet is a very nice example.

[KradSpam]

It is generally accepted that the beaded helmets were, in fact, factory rejects that had failed ballistic testing during the manufacturing process. Rather than waste the time and effort to melt and reprocess the steel from the defective shell, it was simply put in a jig to crimp the bead so that the helmet would be easily recognized as a reject that was not to be issued to combat troops. These were more than sufficient to serve the purpose of protecting the wearer's head in behind the lines duties such as factory police duty, fire watch duty, etc. I have many beaded examples, and the defects on quite a few of them are readily apparent. Cheers, Jim G.

I'm aware of the general consensus, but I have to disagree with the conclusion. I may well be wrong but there we are, that is why the world is interesting .

Consider the beaded gladiator helmet. Obviously the shape is enough to ID it as a light duty helmet, and the bead is superfluous for the purpose. The nature and application of the bead is identical to the helmets in discussion here, which again makes me think that the bead was applied as normal during manufacture rather than applied to reject shells. I don't see the evidence on the helmets themselves of the bead being added later.

As for some of them having apparent defects, if my hypothesis is correct that would not be unexpected; they are intended for use as light duty lids and it does not matter if they have the odd flaw, in a similar way many M34's and variants have flaws with vent stamps etc.

General opinion is not always the best reason to back an idea. Look what happened in 1933

[davejb]

In respect of the continual questions that are raised re why these helmets were beaded, has anyone ever bothered to measure the actual height of a beaded in relation to that of a normal helmet, by rights a beaded should be lower because of the pressure used to make the bead, but if there is no height difference once the bead has been applied then that raises a lot more questions, just a thought !!

[KradSpam]

I don't know if that is the process used to create the bead, you might expect to see a bead on the interior also if they are just squished.

[davejb]

They do have a bead on the inside

[KradSpam]

They do have a bead on the inside

I've only seen a couple with the liner out and I'm sure they didn't....... gonna check mine when I get home now.