Crack on M1 Front Seam Swivel Bail

[feldgrau33]

Hello gents, i just got this front seam swivel bail shell. And the one intrigue me is, there's crack on the rear of the shell.









The seam



The bail

A bit crude in my opinion


The remain of the paint

Too bad the cork surface is already gone

The crack

From inside



From outside

The heat stamp

650I ?


Along with the other WW2 M1. Since it's almost out of space, i'm still thinking where should i put this shell.

Anyway my question is, is these crack also appeared in the other front seam swivel bail helmet? Or its just a rare instance for this kind of helmet?

Thank you

[B24AT6]

Those are what are called "stress cracks" which can occur on any M1. It was an issue caused by the manufacturing process that was never totally resolved. It is very common.

I would love to see more photos of that 2nd Division helmet!

[avenger]

Yep, quite common with these to find the stress cracks. Some end up worse than others. I've heard a good argument that they were made worse by how the military stored the shells by stacking them on top of each other. Some people believe they may have even issued some with minor hairline cracks out of the factory. In any case, don't worry too much about them. They're just part of the helmets charm.

[BlackCat1982]

You could argue that those stress cracks on a swivel baled pot mark it out as being wartime issue. Never seen a Vietnam or later example with cracks.

[feldgrau33]

Those are what are called "stress cracks" which can occur on any M1. It was an issue caused by the manufacturing process that was never totally resolved. It is very common.

I would love to see more photos of that 2nd Division helmet!

I see.

It's not 2nd division helmet unfortunately, it's 1950's-60's Indonesian Military Police helmet.

Yep, quite common with these to find the stress cracks. Some end up worse than others. I've heard a good argument that they were made worse by how the military stored the shells by stacking them on top of each other. Some people believe they may have even issued some with minor hairline cracks out of the factory. In any case, don't worry too much about them. They're just part of the helmets charm.

Ah interesting, thank you for the info.

You could argue that those stress cracks on a swivel baled pot mark it out as being wartime issue. Never seen a Vietnam or later example with cracks.

Interesting indeed. Thank you.

[ruddersrangers44]

All down to the quality of the batches of steel used at the time,luck of the draw really,as already said some have loads others none,many postwar especially the Nam era Ingersoll shells as well as the 70's made all show stress cracks,never really solved the problem through four decades.included pic of a 70's produced shell.

[anton67]

I have also seen stress cracks on Vietnam era helmets.