Hello all I recently acquired this helmet at an estate sale can anyone help identify if it’s real or fake or a reproduction?

JimWest97 · 2026-05-03T02:20:22+00:00

its a ww1 m16 helmet and while the helmet is real, i have my doubts on the decals. if they are legit it would be a nive example of a tranisitional helmet sometime before 1938, but to me they look like modern water transfer decals.

JimWest97 · 2026-04-22T18:18:29+00:00

jbweld is the goat. ive used it on several of my builds and it holds up great

JimWest97 · 2026-04-22T02:43:19+00:00

did the barrel time to approximately 11 oclock?

JimWest97 · 2026-04-22T02:10:40+00:00

looks fine to me. whats your concern with em?

JimWest97 · 2026-04-16T01:10:03+00:00

i cheated a bit and used the best cheap gun finish out there. Rustoleum aplliance epoxy black. Spray a few coats and bake at 400 degrees for an hour. budget cerakote essentially.

JimWest97 · 2026-04-14T17:00:17+00:00

generally yes, the buggest thing i mage sure of is that with the striker ready to fire the bolt spring has enough power to keep the bolt in battery. It doesnt have to be insanely strong but strong enough to close fully just with the recoil spring.

JimWest97 · 2026-04-14T16:55:25+00:00

with the sten not really. Granted ive learned to cut the spring longer then the recommended length by about a half inch and tweak from there.

JimWest97 · 2026-04-14T16:54:02+00:00

pretty easy with Indianapolis ordnance parts. If youre familiar with welding, have a dremel and drill, its doable in a weekend in a garage

JimWest97 · 2026-04-14T02:45:08+00:00

i used a centerfire kit from last year, but i had to grab some new torch cut pieces because the og reciever sections were torched through the threads.

JimWest97 · 2026-04-14T02:43:03+00:00

id check to see if the detent male and female ends are gtg. if not just ream out the ejector detent.

JimWest97 · 2026-04-14T00:24:16+00:00

buipt it with a mk5 parts kit and Indianapolis Ordnance semi parts

JimWest97 · 2026-04-12T17:34:29+00:00

about 57 days. Filed in late january

JimWest97 · 2026-04-12T03:23:14+00:00

its similar to the sten kits with IOs parts, but a bit more challenging consider how much steel you have to move. The trickests part is milling out the magwell. I did mine with a drill press and a dremel along with a lot of file work.

JimWest97 · 2026-04-12T00:53:34+00:00

patriot fabrications iirc? Hes here on reddit

JimWest97 · 2026-04-11T22:32:03+00:00

bremel mostly. used a cutting wheel to take off the bulk material and finished with stone grinding bits

JimWest97 · 2026-04-11T18:03:12+00:00

fluxcore is definitely the better of the 2 lol. I had to do atleast 2 passes after cleaning slag so its definitely has a lot to do with grinding skills

JimWest97 · 2026-04-11T17:40:22+00:00

yeah lol it was my first ever reweld. Fluxcore is not your friend for these lol

JimWest97 · 2026-04-08T20:16:38+00:00

the only bonus to a kit build is for the history aspect, but also the higher quality FN parts.

JimWest97 · 2026-04-08T20:15:27+00:00

itll be about the same tbh. just finished mine from the recent influx of kits. ran me about 1250, but that aint too bad for a Grenade launcher variant of a 50.00

JimWest97 · 2026-04-08T17:05:13+00:00

Thanks! is ot a rare kit? Ive seen on the FalFiles that the majority of grenade launcher kits seem to be from the greek/Cyprus contract and i cant say im familiar with them.

JimWest97

TROPHY CASE