US Headgear Main Page

About Our US Helmets:

The US M-1 Helmet is unique in that the helmet and liner are separable units. Thus we will treat them here as two different items:

W.W.II Helmets vs. "Postwar" Helmets:
All of our US helmets are "original" U.S. military. The word "reproduction" is sometimes use in our descriptions in lieu of "postwar", "modified" or "refurbished". The main difference between helmets made during the Second World War and those made later is the band around the edge. Early production helmets had a band of stainless steel whose ends joined in the front of the helmet. Thus, they are referred to as "front seam". As the stainless steel was found to loose its paint and shine in an unfortunate way, the material of the band was changed to a duller color metal, and eventually, the seam was moved to the rear of the helmet. "Rear seam" helmets went into production in November 1944, making them rare in W.W.II combat, but some indeed must have been there.

Front seam detail. Visor of shell shown.

Rear seam detail.

Some time after the War, the height of the shell (a.k.a. steel pot) was lowered slightly; most helmets of postwar manufacture can be distinguished based on this by a trained eye. However, the use of nets and camo will render this undetectable. This is why W.W.II liners are sometimes a tight fit in later shells.
Numerous Allied countries also produced their own slightly unique versions of the M-1. Belgium, Norway and Denmark are a few.
ATF only uses U.S. manufactured steel pots. Either W.W.II or postwar.

Liners: The liner for the the M-1 helmets underwent numerous changes throughout the years. Our liners may be U.S. W.W.II, U.S. Korean War era or Belgian. W.W.II liners are generally distinguished by their khaki colored suspension, front eyelet, and chinstrap studs. Korean War era liners have green suspension and lack the eyelet. Later liners lacked the nape strap assembly as well as the chinstrap studs. Belgian liners are very similar to W.W.II US liners, except that they are slightly shallower.

As a general rule, only our "W.W.II Parts" M-1C and M-2 paratrooper helmets have genuine wartime liners. Occasionally we must use Korean War era liners, albeit with the suspension replaced with new khaki colored webbing. All economy M-1C's and Infantry Helmets use Postwar manufacture shells and Belgian liners. Externally they are basically identical.

All helmets will likely have imperfections. They are over 50 years old, and those of you who believe that they were kept wrapped in styrofoam packing in climate controlled time capsules waiting to be opened by eager collectors in the distant future need to quit smoking the contents of the litter box! These are military helmets, most if not all of which have been used by real live soldiers who are more concerned about preventing dents in their heads than dents in their headgear. They are all in good to very good condition, and they will not be crushed or dented beyond recognition. We assure them to be serviceable and correctly refinished.

We do NOT paint customer's helmets. There are helmet restoration services, but we are not one of them. Custom jobs are an absolute nightmare, and we have chosen not to do them in any way.

Sorry if this we cannot make some people happy. We offer complete helmnets only.
We do not offer the following:
1. Helmet restoration services of any kind.
2. Custom work of any kind.
3. Helmet painting or consultation services.
4. Painting instructions.

We have legitimate, practical reasons for these draconian policies. There are other companies that provide these services, and they are listed on our links page. DO NOT call to beg, whine, threaten or snivel at us! We are straight up and honest, and the truth may hurt, but we are pulling no punches. Please appreciate this fact.