Russian Helmet Collection Part 3

[@billk6772]

Where can WW2 Soviet helmets be found?

[@soviethelmets1879]

Hello, the only place I know of that ever consistently has Russian helmets for sale is Frontovik.com, and even there the offerings are scarce, I think right now there is only one SSH-36 for sale on the site. Most of the ones I have I got off eBay, but you just have to be careful, a ton of fakes and postwar.

[@billk6772]

@ apparently that site is blocking me for some reason. By the way, you seem to be the best expert on Soviet helmets that I’ve come across. In your opinion, what do you think about the ink stamp that contains the date? My question is, could that simply be the date the last time that helmet was in a factory? In other words, if the helmet was refurbished, would that black stamp be the date of refurbishment? Just like if the helmet had never been refurbished, it would have its original born on date. Like every time that helmet is in a factory, it gets a new stamp Also, does the heat lot number have something to do with the original date? They start with the size like a 1 or a 2, and then I read somewhere else maybe it was Reddit, that I think the first or second digits after that have something to do with the year of production. Not sure. what are your thoughts?

[@soviethelmets1879]

@@billk6772 Correct, the ink stamp will typically show the last date the helmet was in the factory. A ton of “48” helmets started out as wartime then were refurbished in 1948, you can actually tell because there will be a letter “P” next to the 48. The “P” is the first letter for the word “refurbished” in Russian. The heat lot number does not in any way correspond to the date from anything I’ve ever seen. The first number is the size, then there will be a dash then the batch number. Great questions Bill, feel free to continue to ask away. Kevin

[@billk6772]

@ Kevin, I’m not an expert in Soviet helmets, but I have a little bit of experience with their World War II weapons. I know that the soviets were big into refurbishing things (like most countries) and often times a rifle which has been through refurbishing might come out completely original. Except for the refurbishment mark on the stock. It’s not common, but it does happen. I think they just take all their stuff, drop them off at some factories here and there and have guys go look through them to see if anything needs replacing. If nothing needs replacing, they just stamp it, and let it go. How sure are you on the chin straps? And by that I mean the metal C keeper on the end of the strap? Are those definitely not World War II straps?

[@soviethelmets1879]

@@billk6772The metal c keeper is interesting, because you should not see it on the early SSh-39s with leather/gralex fingered liners, you should see it on later SSH-39s with the round cloth liners (only the ones made in Lysva not Stalingrad), then you should not see it on wartime SSH-40s, then you should see it again on postwar SSH-40s. Crazy I know but that’s definitely how it should go.