GSG9 helmet...

[DeB]

Hi to all!
I'm looking for a cheap GSG9 helmet for reenactment purposes.
Where I can find it? How is the medium price for one?
Thanks to all! Bye!

[FJR6]

Hello,
try to stay away from using a GSG-9 helmet.
If you compare it to an original or even repro FJ shell, it is very clear that it is only remotely similar to what you should be wearing.
I also suggest that, if you can get a good condition GSG-9er with the right liner, chinstraps and chincup, to keep it as a collectible in its own right, since the GSG-9 isn't using them anymore and I know quite a few 9ers who would like to have one, but can't get one as real GSG-9ers are now getting difficult to come by and have risen in price quite nicely.
Mind you, I'm not talking about cut-down BGS Stahlhelm knockoffs, but real GSG-9 jump helmets.

Get yourself a repro FJ helmet from ATF or bbhonker and use that for reenacting.
And, if you want to have a look, visit my website at www.fjr6.de.vu
We do FJ reenacting here in Europe.

best regards,
Volker

[BFerdi]

Repro Camo FJ helmet

I have a very nice camo Repro FJ helmet I was going to sell on Ebay.
It has Normandy camo paint. It is an excellent repro, same weight
and shape as original ones . It has no decal on the outside. If you are interested, I can send you pictures to your e-mail address. I can not post pictures to this site. Contact me at Bill_Ferdi@BD.com. I will send you pictures.
Good luck. It looks as good as the one that just went for $4,600 on Ebay .

[DeB]

Thanks

Nice site!

I knew that a GSG9 could be modified to become a good Fallshirm helmet...
I don't want to spend a lot for an helmet for reenacting...

I was thinking also that I could use my M33 (the italian helmet) to reenact a Fallshirm in Italy...

Where I can find a GSG9 photo??
thanks to all byeb ye from italy!

[Robbie Farrell]

GSG9 Helmets

I remember very well going to a reenactment here in the USA in the late 1970's early 1980's and a dealer by the name of George Petersen, who was (is) an expert on German Paratroop forces during WW II, was selling GSG9 helmets out of large cardboard boxes. He had stacks of them and he was fitting them to heads like a quartermaster sargent in the army would do. I looked in the boxes and he had scores of them in each box. I'm sure they are all gone to collector's homes all across the country now. I picked one up many years ago in size 60 and still have it in my collection. It appeared to be unissued. I can't now remember what I paid for it.

[DeB]

Interesting...

so u have a gsg9 helmet... can u post a photo of it?
thanks a lot!
bye DeB

[Peter_Suciu]

I bought this helmet about 25 years, at a gun show from an importer of H&K products. I gave it to my grandfather went I went off to college in 1986.

[Peter_Suciu]

Liner

[Frentebro]

There were a number of different types of GSG helms - see Marzetti page 182. None look like the one in the pic above, which appears to be an FJ repo.

[Willi Z.]

It is an early FJ repro but made from the same shell as used on the GSG9 helmet. These came out in the 80s. While stationed in Germany during the 80s I picked up both a true GSG9 helmet and one of these. Exact same shaped shell, which is not correct for an FJ shell, BTW. Close but not completely accurate. These helmets were used because that it all that was available to re-enactors for many years. Now there are better options

[Peter_Suciu]

There were a number of different types of GSG helms - see Marzetti page 182. None look like the one in the pic above, which appears to be an FJ repo.

I highly doubt that in 1982 anyone bothered to make an FJ repro. This helmet came from an H&K dealer and was about $80 at the time. I've seen similar helmets over the years attributed to the West German GSG-9. If you have a photo--beyond just pointing to Marzetti--I'd be interested in seeing it.

[Peter_Suciu]

It is an early FJ repro but made from the same shell as used on the GSG9 helmet. These came out in the 80s. While stationed in Germany during the 80s I picked up both a true GSG9 helmet and one of these. Exact same shaped shell, which is not correct for an FJ shell, BTW. Close but not completely accurate. These helmets were used because that it all that was available to re-enactors for many years. Now there are better options

Really. So you're saying the shell is GSG-9 but the liner is not? The liner is not even close at all to an FJ helmet, so I guess considering that these were fairly common and cheap I'd have to wonder why anyone would bother making a repro helmet.

The story I was told was that the H&K reps in North America imported these. They had posters at the gun shows with the GSG-9 using the MP5, which were released commercially and had the helmets as a display. After a year or so they sold off the displays including the helmets.

[Robbie Farrell]

GSG9 Helmet

Somewhere around 1978-79?, I bought this exact type helemt from an old guy who had a militaria shop in eastern North Carolina. When I got it, I realized it was too small to fit my head so I sent it back for a refund. I definitely know it was before 1980 because I was with an old girlfriend at the time I found it and she booted me out before 1980. Also, a shop in Alexandria, VA, down by Interarms Co. on the river had them for sell just like the one pictured before 1980 also. I can't see anyone making repro FJ helmets in the late 1970s, but I could be wrong.

[Willi Z.]

The first GSG9 helmets were of a style used in WWII. They were "moose green" in color and used a very rough finish of paint. They had a very different liner and chin strap/cup assembly. They were not intended to be sold as copies of FJ helmets. By the mid-80s GSG9 replaced these helmets with a new kevlar style of helmet. I often trained with GSG9 during my time in Germany from 1985-90. The GSG9 helmet used a slotted bolt.

The first repro FJ helmets used the exact same shell as the GSG9 helmet. Who knows how they obtained them. I suspect someone contacted the manufacturer of the GSG9 helmets and bought the shells. They used a liner and strap that was similiar to the WWII type. They were first sold in Germany at shows, and were advertised in German gun publications. As pictured above. These were bluegray and had an odd WWII style of bolt. Anyone who has an original FJ helmet knows the holes for the bolts are in the wrong place. The shell had a double roll to the rim..actually a separate piece added to the rim. The shell is not shaped the same as a WWII FJ helmet. The shell it too high and not wide enough. Again, it was not a true copy of a WWII helmet. They used a shell that was currently available, the GSG9 shell, and added a crude copy of the liner and strap. This was the best thing available in the 80s to re-enactors. It was only from about 1997 on that close copies of FJ helmets were made. Trust me, I was in to this stuff then......

Here are some GSG9 troops wearing their helmet.

[Willi Z.]

Here is the GSG9 helmet that was given to me on the left. It was unissued. I sold it at one of the Max shows years later. It has the standard GSG9 liner and strap. Not sure if I have any photos of the inside.

To the right is the first repro FJ helmets. Used the exact same shell, just finished differently and with a different type of bolts. It had the exact liner/strap assembly as the one posted above. I bought it at a Dortmund gun show for 250DM (at the time that was $90, as the $1 bought 2.80DM then).