My M76,M80,M90,SK, Iraqi helmets..

[James C]

Another interesting example Paul and sorry to here of your woes with mould. Something I've not had the pleasure of so far with and never given it much thought untill now upon reading the knock on effect it has had .Food for thought so thanks for highlighting the problem ,back to the m76 /or supposed Iraqi m80 can i ask if your certain there are no other markings present on the webbing or the shell for that matter .Well bad storage has played a key factor in its appearance but feel the shell exhibits some traits of issued use .
I had but sold on my only base green Iraqi m80 but even this had the odd hint of tan overpaint lurking here and there
Great thread Mate

[austromunga]

Thanks James
I have to admit i was following yourself and a couple of other members on here's forays... into the realms of the Iraqi M80's and 90's!! that.....and there seemed to be a lot of them about around the time you were posting up your superb examples!! and all for a reasonable price!!they really are each and every one unique!!!! unfortunately now though it seems the Ebay jokers have gotten into dolling up plain examples for financial gain!!!!! .......
now I've noticed quite a few of the Gulf war bring backs I have seen have the "oil residue"!!! my example is no exception!!...

Which leads me nicely on to my last definite Iraqi origin lid!!!... my M90!!

This one is almost complete and includes the often missing bumper strip!!!.....just missing the shoelace tie in the crown of the webbing matrix... which has some markings to the two front tapes which are hard to make out!!?? not that I can read Arabic anyway!!! !!
As many others of this type.. it exhibit's the oil splatter to the exterior surface...however this one also has some evidence of the same effect inside... so at some stage it had been left upended!!!! as the oil rained down!!!!
also some amounts of mud amongst the oil!!! (and a partial finger print forever captured buy the wearer handling the rim whilst the residue was still fresh!!)
I store this in a bag of its own as the extremely strong smell it exudes can only be described as waste engine oil dumping site!!!

so there you have it.... my M76/80/90 collection.....

[Cap Camouflage Pattern I]

Very nice, I'm loving the oil rain stains, I have a US 6 color desert PASGT helmet and Vest cover each with oil rain stains and a US LC-1 Suspenders with oil rain stains. I also missed out on 2 more PASGT helmet covers with stains for only about $30 I hadn't seen any Iraqi stuff with it yet, thanks for sharing.

[battle gear]

The M80 helmet with the factory light tan paint and webbing looks like it might be a export model made for the SAUDI military

one of the uncommon M80 helmets also with the different color on the inside

[austromunga]

Hi all
Thanks for the feedback and information!! Saudi you say BG ..I will look a little closer into that for sure!!!

I would like to share with you my latest acquisition on the M76/M80 front!!.....

This is Chinese export copy of the South Korean M76!!

Similar in many ways to the original SK design..... but once again.. with these Corlon type M1 shaped helmets also very unique!!!

The overall finish is pretty poor!! with varying thickness in the "shell" from one section to another!! also with uneven lumps and divots in the outer layers..
This has been grey primer sprayed ..followed by a coat of hand brush painted dark brown..almost black paint.... and finally finished off with a red star stencil!!

The fittings are the same as all M76/M80 type... with the familiar three rivet bail fixings and M64 M1 type removable matrix fittings... but from there on its all different!!

The liner is made from very heavy inch wide webbing!!... with a headband of the same!!??? this has a soft padded band (which I would think would have been better if fitted facing inwards!!) with another heavy webbing band which in tern is used as a sweatband!!!! (very uncomfortable in use most likely!!!)
The chinstrap on the other hand is a thin flimsy affair!! in 10 mm webbing with a metal slide adjustment ..in construction more like a liner chinstrap!!!
Sadly no markings whatsoever either on the shell or the webbing!!

your comments please....

[austromunga]

Hey all!!!
finally added another Iraqi M80..to complete the collection..of M80 M90 types anyway!!!
This one is a mint condition M80/03..and issue net/camo cover!!
everything about it is correct for its type.. with the corse green webbing and simplified chinstrap hard wear...
But......... here's where it gets more interesting!!!
the next pictures show my latest addition (on the left).... in comparison with my tan possible UAE M80 (on the right)....this shows my other M80/03 cover that I picked up loose at last years War and Peace show...this is the type of cover I had come to expect for the M80/03.. with wide mesh holes and rough dark green synthetic canvas camo materiel!!.... but my latest lid came with this unusual made in the exact same way as the other cover...but with smaller aperture netting and less rough almost plastic camo materiel!!!!!
I have read somewhere, that due to the nature of these Iraqi helmets ... being that they were pretty much all in use still, when the last pattern M80/03 was first issued.... that this type of cover was fitted to all types... M80, M90, and m80/03 inclusive.....also I noted that the M90 was the first type to be actually issued with this type of net with the camo built in!!

This brought me to have a try on of my new small aperture net cover on my M90!!!...(as it seemed ill fitting on the M80/03..way to big!!!) and....surprise, surprise!! it fits the M90 just right!!! so does anyone else know if this is even slightly correct??? as I see it the small aperture net cover was the early type???..and fits the M90 type!!??? and the later large aperture was issued especially to fit the M80/03!!????? see following pictures!!

[austromunga]

oh...i forgot.... the F.B. in a circle printed...manufacturer??? or acceptance mark!!???

[Mark K]

Thanx Paul an interesting thread and some dam nice helms in this grouping..
I am really keen on the M-90 with the oil misting on the exterior of the helmet body speaks to genuine usage in the Sand Box...

Regards Mark

[austromunga]

Thanks Mark
Yes my bring back M90 is definitely one of my favorite Iraqi lids!! Funny that the M90 examples exhibit the oil misting ....but I really haven't seen any M80's.showing similar misting.....perhaps it's because the M90 cream Coloured plastic holds the oil staining better than the Matt painted M80.....where any oil residue ....would be mostly absorbed!!??..

[James C]

This is all very interesting Paul to see the differances between the netting types but firstly i never realised you have only recently added a M80/03 example as i could of sworn you had one in the collection unless the memory i had blurred over time of you picking up that Iraqi net at War and peace with a whole lid .
there is no doubting the differances between the two net /plastic scrim examples you show and something i am as keen as you are to get to the bottom of
I do know there is a Tan colour scrim version too but have never seen one on the surplus market as of yet
I will do my best to dig deeper