Sand Camo
I've had this one for a long time. It is a front seam swivel bale with a heat stamp of 98F. It was later used in the Korean and/or Vietnam war, due to the clipped on chinstraps. I added the liner, which is dated 1953.
A very interesting piece to me because I have never seen another sand camouflaged US helmet.
I am not sure what the white stuff on the front of the helmet is, any thoughts on that?
Lots of pictures, thanks for looking!
Where to begin,with regards to books that have been written on the M1 Helmet i dont think sand has ever been mentioned,but we know the British used sand on mk2 Helmets also many ww1 Brodies which can be seen having been heavily pasted,there's a seller on ebay who's been selling shells with similar texture to this for a few years now,he's all came from US supply type auctions in the late 70's and were purchased through auction style job lots,now the strangest thing is everyone of these shells i have encountered all seem to be of the front seamed swivel Bale type,never seen a rear seem,so why only ww2 shells?some have said this texture was added in the late 70's if so why?what purpose did it/would it serve?have never truely found an answer,maybe i'll send the seller a message he might have an idea,also all shells have T1 clip Bales,none have kept there original bartacked wartime variation,nothing more to add other than I have one which is sharp to touch the surface and can slice your hand,also if you rub the texture over newspaper you can hear the bits just dropping off........
Here's mine for comparison but bare in mind my camera doesn't have macro so the pics aren't as close making the grain look less dominant than yours plus mine has seen a much harder life,also mine having a heat stamp of 725 would have originally been a fixed Bale.......
the sand finish looks exactly like what Ive seen used on WWI US M1917 helmets, the olive green color look more like Korean War era finish, I think it's either Korean war or early Vietnam.
The problem with this type of finish is that the info just isn't out there so we can only speculate as to why these shells were coated in this manner,was it for a specific purpose within the military?was it some kind of long term storage solution?what fundamental reason would there possible be to do this,certainly nothing to do with the Manufacturers,so in field or refurb/supply depot but why?maybe the answer will never present itself,have to be patient and just simpy wait!!!!!
It certainly is interesting, that's for sure. This type of sand finish always reminded me of what the Germans did to their helmets. Maybe it was just a field application to reduce reflection? Who knows.
Ruddersranger44, you have a nice example of the sand finish helmet!
Thanks Sarge.........by Sgt Rock
Very interesting topic regarding the addition of sand, I have a post war example with a rough sand finish which I assume was carried out in the 1970's, and as previously discussed there is frustratingly very little information out there as to why these shells were literally covered in sand??
I read somewhere that they first put cork in the paint, and later war they put in sand.
Here is my WWII M-1 fix bale with some rough texture.
Regards,
Taka
Very nice example Taka, which show's the finish and patina well,thanks for posting
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