Question About Mixing Liners and Pots

[Brady556]

I am looking for a Vietnam M1 helmet, but cant seem to find a decent complete liner and helmet set. I am wondering if it would be unauthentic if I found a pot and liner separately? Was it normal at the time for helmets to be reissued without the first liner or pot? I just want to be as historically accurate as possible.

Thank you.

[edstorey]

Hehehe, yeah the QM staff always made sure that the same liner stayed with the same steel shell - that is why the liners were stored piled in one big box and the steel shells in another.

[Nickman983]

If you find a loose helmet and a loose liner I don't see anything wrong with pairing them. To the military a helmet was a helmet and a liner was a liner, so long as they weren't broken I don't think anyone really cared about having a matched set. You'll see this Vietnam era helmets being a mixed bag of parts ranging from WWII to VN era hardware. I wouldn't worry too much about putting together a VN era set, I think many of the helmets being sold from that era are put together anyway (though I'll let the guys who focus on Vietnam chime in if I'm wrong).

 

That being said, If I had two complete helmets I wouldn't swap their liners or parts unless I was absolutely confident both sets were put together at a later date by a previous collector. I also try to keep track of which of my helmets I've paired with a liner so that if/when I go to sell them I don't mislead anyone into thinking it's a set that's been together forever.

[conn]

in the usmc, early 80s, what ever in helmet ( steel helmet) and liner we were issued, was what you got, they all came from wooden plywood boxes that were the size of a pallet squared;

I remember laugher at the ww2 front seam with 5 lbs of paint, they issued us the newest chinstraps to date that we had to install, was nothing, they clip right in, just like the liners,

 

semper fi

[Cap Camouflage Pattern I]

Shells and liners came in large boxes from different factories, they were never a matched set.

[the professor]

Check out ebay and look for a set where the liner chinstraps and cover have similar wear. You'll never know if it's a matched set but you can still get nice complete helmets with even wear to the components for $60 to $80.