Schlueter rear seam swivel bail helmet

[Guamsst]

How rare are the Schlueter swivel bale rear seam helmets?

I cant find any good info on them. Just that Schlueter made 10% of GI helmets in WW2.

[thorin6]

McCord made around 20 million M1 helmets (somewhere around 17 million during WWII), and Schlueter made around 2 million helmets (all during WWII). Although Schlueter made 10%, that's still a lot of helmets. They started delivering them in January 1943, and about half of their production was fixed bales. In my opinion the hardest to find is the fixed bale type with original sewn-on chin straps. Those were the most used during the war and in combat, so they underwent the most wear and were subjected to the most repainting, fixing, and repair.
I've had several front seam, swivel bale Schlueter, and at least one rear seam, swivel bale one, but have yet to find a fixed bale Schlueter still with the sewn chin straps intact (although I've seen a few pictures).
One problem with finding Schlueter helmets is that not all of them are marked with the heat lot number and the large S, although I don't know how many went unmarked. Unless you are really experienced, it's hard to tell a Schlueter by its profile without having a McCord next to it to compare it to.

[Guamsst]

I understand about production verses availability. Try to find an original pack of Lucky Strikes...LOL

My question, and maybe you don't have a reference, is what was the total production for the S rear seam swivel bale? My buddy said they were only made the last month or so of the war and he thought just a few thousand were made.

I do agree, 10% of 20,000,000 is not RARE in itself. Sort of like Smith Corona 03A3 rifles. Most are not Smith Coronas but you can find one pretty easily.

Thanks for the info.

[John Sukey]

On that note, the last time I saw a pack of original Lucky Strikes was in a box of K rations, and that was in 1955!:icon_lol: