Vietnam era M1C with 1964 transitional liner

**Redstalker** · 02-25-2017, 04:04 PM

Here I have one of the more harder to come by M1C liners as ruddersrangers44 (Jake) can testify to. The liner is still made of the duck cotton and resin which had been done this way since WW2. At the same time they were producing the nylon laminated liners which were to take over the duck cotton resin liners. A transitional batch of these M1C liners with the new suspension were contracted out to Westinghouse, Pat-Ric and Marmac between 1964 to 1965. This particular liner has no manufacturers logo but does have the government US 19 marked in the crown. The press then must have been a government leased press to one of the liner manufacturers. Looking at the contract info on the liners suspension it has the date 14 SEP 1964 and the only company with that contract date to manufacture this liner is Westinghouse producing 51,000 units. There is also a worn white painted numeral 7 on the liner which was known to be done by Westinghouse only. The liner appears to have retained its original factory paint with no over paint. A very well used liner in good condition.
The steel helmet body is a McCord with fitted paratrooper straps and is a rear seamed swivel bale with the heat stamp prefix of M197A (1950s). Unusually there is no - between the M and 197A and even more unusual the stamp has been pressed halfway between the bale and the front brow (see pic). I have only ever seen the stamp directly under the brow on these postwar Mccords from the ones I own and have observed online.
The Mitchell is a late 1965 manufactured cover and is in very worn condition as is the camouflage band.
Jake if I've missed anything out Let me know bud

Thanks for looking guys

**James C** · 02-25-2017, 04:55 PM

Superb liner example Ian

a nice find and looks well paired up with the shell or on it's own even .I have never heard about the mid way heat stamp before on these shells so thanks for raising the profile of this detail can i ask a daft question

about the date on the mitchell cover and how to pinpoint its manufacture date please
thanks James

**austromunga** · 02-25-2017, 05:01 PM

Very nice Ian!! and about that Midway heatstamp... guess I will now have to go searching through my un-known M1 shells to see if I have missed the unusual stamp placement!!

**Redstalker** · 02-25-2017, 05:15 PM

I have messaged you on Facebook James about the Mitchell contract dates. I have a screen shot off another militaria website that I can not post on here in case I break the house rules

**James C** · 02-25-2017, 05:26 PM

Cheers Ian and understood

Paul i thought the same thing and will check some of my euro clones just in case but i don't hold out much hope

**ruddersrangers44** · 02-26-2017, 08:13 AM

Great set Ian as already discussed by us.when you look at the production figures for these duck resin Liners contracted between 1964-1969 it astounds me just how so few show in today's market.many oddities appear on the heat treatment stamping,some had double stamps,once i saw a front seamed McCord with a 1951 "M" prefix?also to note that all post-war swivel loops are placed away from the rim,compared to all ww2 variants that sat tight against the rim,was this an oversite or deliberate?who knows,but anyway another corker of a rig to display.!..............

**Redstalker** · 02-26-2017, 10:08 AM

The books that are out there give great info on liner stamps and markings but are lacking when it comes to info on post WW2 steel body stamp markings. Mark Reynosa goes into great detail on contract info and production numbers but details about steel helmet stamps and what they look like are very poor. Most of what I have learnt about stamp markings have come from other collectors and their research

**Mark K** · 02-26-2017, 02:33 PM

Mitchell Pattern Contract dates as mentioned above for you M-1 nuts and a pic of the tag from my early February of 1959 USMC Mitch cover ..

Regards Mark

**Redstalker** · 02-26-2017, 04:52 PM

by Mark K

Mitchell Pattern Contract dates as mentioned above for you M-1 nuts and a pic of the tag from my early February of 1959 USMC Mitch cover ..

Regards Mark

I love these early USMC Mitchell covers I own two of them but one of them for some reason has two of these labels on the flaps thanks for showing your one Mark