Russian Steel Helmet?

[Brian R]

Sometimes I foolishly buy militaria on a whim that I really know nothing about. The helmet below is a prime example of this.

I recently picked up this helmet as it was described as a Russian Ssh40 Steel Helmet from World War II. It is in excellent condition, complete with liner and chin strap. Although I'm looking to find out as much info as I possibly can about it, my main interest is whether or not this is a helmet from the Second World War. Could it be from after the war - sometime during the Cold War? I have included 4 images below. The last one shows two markings, a stamped 2 on the inside of the shell and another stamp on the underside of the chin strap.

Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Brian

[Brian R]

View 2

[Brian R]

View 3

[Brian R]

View 4

[Adrian Stevenson]

M40 helmet

Hi Brian, your helmet is indeed a Soviet M40. The ink stamped number "2" is the helmet shell size. The liner is the typical three pad style.
The big problem with WW2 Russian kit is that there are so many variations on, what should be, standardised items. Most items tend to be "ersazt" in nature, with different materials being used in their construction by different makers.
Most M40 helmets will feature three pad liners made from a black oil cloth material and the chin strap will be webbing canvas with an olive painted buckle.
Most Russian kit is ink stamped with a date. I have an M40 dated 1942 and another mint unissued one dated 1948. As a note, beware any "1943" dated mint M40's on the market at the moment. These are '48 dated ones with the ink stamps altered to look like a "3". These lids have an ink stamped makers logo of a stylised spider, which are not seen on wartime produced helmets.
Hope this helps you?
Cheers, Ade.

[Brian R]

Ade-

Thanks for the reply.

I wish I could make out the stamp on the chin strap as I think it could really help me figure this helmet out. It doesn't really look like arabic numbers though - maybe it's some sort of maker stamp.

Do you know of a good forum or Soviet collector out there who I maybe able to find out some more info from, perhaps by sending these same images?

Thanks again,

Brian

[Rick Research]

I'm unaware of any functioning Soviet Forum aside from what is found in here. Don't know a thing about Soviet metal headgear myself, I'm a "cloth" collector.

[Gene]

Check with these guys:

http://soviet-awards.addr.com/forum/index.php3