M42?

[allesfurdeutschland]

Hello!

Ive been reading the forum for a while now and want to thank all the knowledgeable people whose information has saved me from buying 2 dodgy helmets so far!

Just picked up my first helmet, which i believe is an M42? A basic helmet but i figured it was an ok choice for a beginner without much money to play with.

Appears to have been painted green originally, has a reproduction liner and chinstrap obviously but hopefully ill be able to replace with original sometime in the future when funds arent so tight...

Any information about the helmet such as maker would be much appreciated! (Have been trying the search function to find the answers but am still learning to use it so sorry for the questions)

Also do the rivets appear original or reproduction?

Thankyou

[Sir Payne]

If you look along the skirts you will see two series of letters and numbers. "NS66" is the factory code + shell size. Vereinigte Deutsche Nikelwerke, and 66 is the shell size in cm, which would be medium/large. The other set of numbers, "D268", is the lot number.

[cricketchris1944]

If you look along the skirts you will see two series of letters and numbers. "NS66" is the factory code + shell size. Vereinigte Deutsche Nikelwerke, and 66 is the shell size in cm, which would be medium/large. The other set of numbers, "D268", is the lot number.

On the money.
chris

[DeLuxxe]

According to the lot number it might of been a single decal Luftwaffe helmet

[allesfurdeutschland]

Thankyou for the replies and information regarding lot number and maker!

Have been searching the forum i see heaps of Q and EF helmets is there a reason im not finding many "NS" helmets? Not a good maker?

The rivets on the outside of the helmet are quite tight but with the liner and band having been replaced it seemed odd to me that the rivets look original?

[Sir Payne]

All the helmet makers are good, but supposedly a number of German soldiers preferred the Q helmets. Quist helmets are generally considered the highest quality helmets. They are thicker weighing approximately .2 lbs more than other helmets, and thus offer more protection. If I am not mistaken, Q M40s are the most abundant combat helmet. This is probably due to the fact that Quist continued M40 production well into 1944 and maybe even 1945.

[Danmark]

Flex the liner back and see if the rivet legs have had bends to them before - they may have got lucky replacing the liner and been able to re-use the original rivets.
Cheers, Dan ( a great starter BTW )

[allesfurdeutschland]

Danmark i flexed the liner back and it is at you say the clips that hold it to the liner band are rusted and i could see more than one bend in one of them.

Very interesting to hear about the different weight of Quist helmets, it amazes me the knowledge available on this forum!

I am very grateful for all the replies, unfortunately lll i can really offer in return that may be relevant and help some forum members is translating Sutterlin script my grandmother grew up under the Third Reich she is happy to translate for people if anyone is having trouble translating handwritten Sutterlin, few people can actually read Sutterlin nowadays and even fewer translate it properly.