What in the world is this M1? Foreign, prop, experimental?

[GeneralCheese]

I just picked this up off ebay because I knew something was different about it. In hand, it is very, very different. For starters, it weighs 14oz less than a standard M1. It has fixed bales, but a non-stainless rim. It has the correct chinstrap material, but a strange brass buckle. And the overall shape is quite different. Anyone have any idea what this could be? I'm hoping its an experimental piece, but I know it is much more likely to be foreign or a movie prop.

 

Take a look:

 

[GeneralCheese]

[GeneralCheese]

[GeneralCheese]

[GeneralCheese]

[GeneralCheese]

[GeneralCheese]

[GeneralCheese]

[GeneralCheese]

[GeneralCheese]

There is no discernible seam anywhere

 

[GeneralCheese]

[Lt. Kelly]

Interesting. Will be following this thread!

[RememberThe5thESB]

It... wouldnt happen to have a heatstamp... would it? This thing looks so strange!

 

Sent from my SM-J327V using Tapatalk

 

 

[GeneralCheese]

It... wouldnt happen to have a heatstamp... would it? This thing looks so strange!

 

Sent from my SM-J327V using Tapatalk

Not that I have seen.

[103OVI]

That buckle looks like a cast brass buckle that was originally used on the M1917A1 helmets. There were some stocks left over at the start of WWII and they were used on some M1 helmets as a result.

 

I could totally be wrong, but from these pictures it looks like a really beat up Schleuter. The remaining bail looks rounded like a Schleuter, and the brim looks pretty flat if you ignore the huge disfiguring dent. It almost looks like there is an S in the seam photo, but I could be wrong. Just my conjecture.

[GeneralCheese]

That buckle looks like a cast brass buckle that was originally used on the M1917A1 helmets. There were some stocks left over at the start of WWII and they were used on some M1 helmets as a result.

 

I could totally be wrong, but from these pictures it looks like a really beat up Schleuter. The remaining bail looks rounded like a Schleuter, and the brim looks pretty flat if you ignore the huge disfiguring dent. It almost looks like there is an S in the seam photo, but I could be wrong. Just my conjecture.

I considered that but it still weighs almost a full pound less, and it has the non-stainless rim

[sgtdorango]

Very interesting....mike

[Nickman983]

Maybe it's some sort of foreign clone? The fact that it's so much lighter and has fixed bails/non-stainless rim would make me think it's not US. I'm really not sure though. What's really interesting to me is how the shape of the front looks like a Schlueter buy the shape of the back looks closer to a McCord. How do the dimensions compare to a normal M1?

[GeneralCheese]

Maybe it's some sort of foreign clone? The fact that it's so much lighter and has fixed bails/non-stainless rim would make me think it's not US. I'm really not sure though. What's really interesting to me is how the shape of the front looks like a Schlueter buy the shape of the back looks closer to a McCord. How do the dimensions compare to a normal M1?

 

Liners fit just fine so the dimensions are very similar, here's a late-war MSA in it.

 

[Burning Hazard]

Experimental 5A that was reshaped and converted to fixed bail?

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/94860-experimental-helmet-5a/

 

[BOLO]

I once saw a helmet like that at the swap meet with a Belgium flag on the side, this might be a foreign refurb of some type