WW2 M1 possible candidate for "restoration"

**Politefaun** · 01-10-2019, 05:50 PM

Hi everyone this is my WW2 swivel bale m1 helmet its numbered 864G. This is the first helmet I got around 10 years ago it came with a 1967 Vietnam liner. I was wondering if this would make a good restoration project, I'd want to get rid of the rust staining around the bottom of the helmet and get rid of the little spots of rust in the interior. Then pick up the appropriate parts such as liner, chinstraps and netting. I realize getting an original chinstrap will be hard as they were sewn to the helmets but it would be nice to see my first helmet brought back to its original WW2 spec. My questions are if it is worth to restore it are, how would I remove the rust without damaging the paint underneath and where could I find mid-late war parts. Thank you for reading!

**earlymb** · 01-11-2019, 02:44 AM

It seems your helmet got a Korea-era repaint with some traces of the original OD underneath. The chinstraps you have on them now are the late 1970's-early '80's final type. I think you could go with either khaki sewn-on chinstraps (with flat buckle), late to post WW2 green chinstraps or Vietnam-era clip-on chinstraps, depending on what period you want to restore it to. The paintjob rules out WW2 but it would be correct for Korea and acceptable for Vietnam (all mentioned chinstraps would be OK for 'Nam), with a correct liner and other correct accessories.

**greatwhite** · 01-11-2019, 10:14 AM

I have done one it took a lot of effort but well worth it, as mentioned the paint is post war so if you are going to remove it the rust will not matter however you will remove all original paint and cork below, your call.
One of the hardest things i have found now are original early to mid war straps availability, there are a few late war available, liners are popping up now come complete which helps, i have one here from a forum member that had all paint removed right down to the original McCord steel which we have left as is, still original but naked, anyway here is a link to the one i restored which still sits here today.
M1 Schuleter refurb

**earlymb** · 01-11-2019, 10:55 AM

I wouldn't try to remove the rust, it seems more like patina than real cancer on the pics.

**greatwhite** · 01-11-2019, 12:02 PM

Thing is if he wants a ww2 finish it all as to go, or go straight over the top of it at least then it preserves the cork, personally id leave it.

**Politefaun** · 01-11-2019, 04:34 PM

Thank you all for the responses! I'm going to leave the rust alone as I don't want to ruin the finish underneath. I'm going to get the parts for a Vietnam war helmet rather than a WW2 one since the paint doesn't match what a WW2 helmet would look like and I already have a Vietnam war era liner. Furthermore camo covers from that era are cheap so that will hide the rust.

**BlackCat1982** · 01-11-2019, 09:02 PM

I think you made the right call. As it was painted in the 1950's to remove the paint and attempt to spec it as WW2 would deny the history it has. The Korean conflict is an event worthy to commemorate in its own right. If you had stripped the lid back and fitted WW2 chinstraps, the helmet would not be increased in value. If you want a nice original wartime M1 I am sure a nice one will come your way.

**Politefaun** · 01-28-2019, 10:19 PM

Hey everyone thank you again for all the advice and info. I've pretty much finished putting the helmet together the only thing I'm really missing is a bug repellent or LSA bottle to put in the helmet band. The band on the inside has the name "Jackson" written on the backside but I've chose to display it with the faded stamp on the outside. The Mitchel cover is from contract 8027 which dates to 1965 but since its the "long flap" variant might be from a little later. Although in my research the fact that its a "long flap" might not mean anything when it comes to age. Both sweat band and liner I believe are from the mid 60's but the text is hard to read so I posted some picture of them. The chinstrap I ended up getting is an unmarked black variant which I'm considering replacing with an early green one as I'm trying to get all the parts for an early/mid war helmet. I really like how it turned out in the end. The m1 Vietnam helmets display really well. Now I just have to find a WW2 m1 with the frog skin camo cover.