What is the difference between an M16, M17 and M18 helmet?
There is no distinction between an M16 and M17 shell. The term M17 refers only to the liner band. M16 helmets first were produced with leather banded liners and later were produced with M17 steel banded liners. The shell remained the same during this transition. The M18 helmet shell differed from the M16 due to the chinstrap mountings. On the M16 helmet, the chinstrap mounts by means of the same M1891 mount as found on early and pre-war spike helmets. The M18 shell eliminated these M1891 posts and the chinstrap mount was affixed to the metal banded liner. (In the collecting world, there is much confusion regarding this but actually it is quite simple) Therefore, there are only these three shell models; M16, M18 and the rare M18 “ear cut out”. M16 liner with leather band M17 liner with steel band M18 helmet helmet with liner Note: in the illustrations above, you will notice that two different types of leather were used; Brown “vegetable” tanned leather and white “chrome” tanned leather
