Annhilated Relic SS M40 SD

[JustinS]

I wanted to share some photos of my newest addition. Its a heavily battle damaged ET66 SS M40 SD. A lot of paint is still present and there is enough decal left to tell it was a 2nd pattern. Please let me know what you guys think.

[JustinS]

Another

[JustinS]

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[JustinS]

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[JustinS]

Exits

[JustinS]

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[JustinS]

Decal

[panzerzacker]

Holy lord...I wonder if someone was wearing it when the damage occured...I can't begin to imagine it. Kinda sad if that's the case, but a cool helmet.

ZaCK

[Ken B.]

That was used for target practice I'd say

[JustinS]

Maybe, maybe not. It is a battlefield recovery from the Russian Front. How it ended up like this is anyones guess, but it certainly is a good conversation piece.

[upbeek]

helmet

why would anybody explode the helmet,i could imagine bullet holes for target practice,in my opinion it is a genuine battle field piece,that shows total carnage chay

[JohnB]

Justin, I recommend you not pay anything more than nominal money for that helmet. And do not assume it was a real SS helmet.

John

[Lloyd I.]

You asked for it you got it, the cracking to the shell is a typical hallmark of concusion from either artillery or grenade. The difference in the type of holes in the helmet occur from shell splinters of different size with a particularly large shell fragment tearing through the brim and rear skirt. If someone was wearing this one they had a head that looked like hamburger. It could also have been looped on the outside of a vehicle that was destroyed but again it bears the signature of artillery damage.

I dont believe at all that this was a helmet someone took pot shots at on a range. It is geniune battle field damage.

[Jean-Loup]

Lloyd, athough I agree with you that this looks like real battle damge; I do not think that cracks in helmets have anything to do with concussions. You know how US helmets crack by themselfs. I think it is the same for german ones exept the helmet had to be deformed before cracks appear.
For example, I ones had a mdl 40 shell that I got in a ripp off situation. That means that I didnt like the shell, sort of like you dont like things that your ex girlfriend gave to you. So I took a pic axe and made a hole in the top of the helmet. It was very dificult, and I had to hit it several times. A few days latter, when I looked at the shell, several cracks had appeared. No concussion there...
JL

[Stephan Wahl]

I guess it all gets a bit trivial, but hey, these helmets are our passion, and we love talking about them.

Anyway, I concur that it looks like an art. burst for the most part. The cracks then stemmed from the original damage. I'm not a metalargist or anything, however, there seems to be one hole that is a bullet hole on the 1 o'clock frontaal position. Still this doesn't mean it's not all combat damage. Who knows, the bullet coould have killed him, then as he lay dieing or dead on the ground, the artillary blossumed above him. I guess we could all put in our own "Campfire" stories on it. Great helmet though.