Need help with this M16

[Ulke]

Hi Guys

could you please give me your opinion about the Paint color on this M16 Bell size 62? The green/blue color reminds me a little bit of the ww 2 kriegsmarine kustartillerie helmets in meeresgrun. Any of you gus have a Idea for what use this color could also be? Thanks a lot in advance.

[AndyM35]

Hi Ulke,

Bells also often have larger liner rivet heads in their WW1 configuration as does this example. I would think that if used in WW2, the liner pins would have been changed to accept the M31 liner, though there are examples of WW1 helmets used in WW2 and retaining their WW1 liners. Are there any remains of a liner band inside?

Hard to say on the paint as many things can effect the colour aside from time and patina. It may have been given a bath in Oxalic acid for example or perhaps painted after the war for some purpose. I think I can see what may be some dark field grey paint beneath the light blue/grey, but hard to tell form the pics.

Here's a photo of a re-issued (1940 spec) M18 Bell L from my collection showing a dark lightly textured paint for comparison.

Andy