would you wear a army helmet while firing WWII - Vietnam era firearms?

[green papaya]

it would be kind of fun wearing WWII - Vietnam era helmets & gear and firing the weapons of the time period , kind of like living history, but people at the public range might think it's funny? I guess it's best to have access to a private range out on a farm or something to do that?

 

[Stanley Doble]

I bet you could do this and no one would say a word. Especially while you had a gun in your hands.

 

[Fibber Mcgee]

I say go for it. It's hard to live in the past like a lot of us do without people thinking your funny but who cares.

 

[Horace Debussy Jones]

If you're shooting a German P 38 or the later P 1 model pistol, I highly recommend protective head wear of some kind. The spent shells almost always fly directly back into your face or land on top of your head. This is why after firing off only one box of ammo with mine, I traded up to a Smith and Wesson M and P. Sort of hated to part with it as I love the style, but it was just so woefully dated, impractical, and really awkward to shoot.
I wouldn't recommend wearing a nazi helmet though at all. :eeek:
A simple ball cap would work nicely, or better still, one of those German field caps with the front visor if you would want to be historically more accurate with that particular gun. Or maybe one of the leather baseball style caps that the army air force wore while firing your .45? Your choice of headgear could be tailored to your particular gun.
People at a range might think it strange if one were wearing recognizable combat gear like a helmet I think, so the more "casual" forage caps or fatigues type caps would probably go unnoticed for the most part, but YOU would know the significance of your cap.

 

[rjb1]

WWII reenactors shoot with full uniforms and equipment on a fairly regular basis, at least around here (Nashville). However, as you say, it's more often at a private farm where everyone involved can be "in character".
I do remember a machine-gun shoot that was held at a National Guard training base at which some people were in full WWII outfits (US and German) and some were not.
A local Class III dealer provided the firearms and if you paid for the ammunition you could fire a Thompson, a grease gun, an M1917A1, an M1919, an MG34, or an MG 42. (pop-up targets at 100 - 800 m)
At that event everyone was more interested in the hardware we were shooting than what anyone was wearing.
(This was back in the good old days when surplus ammunition was cheap and plentiful.)

 

[Stearmen]

How about vice versa, Vietnam period uniforms with WWII firearms? 1963 Vietnam, two American Army Advisers armed with Schmeisser MP42s, cover a Sikorsky CH-37 Mojave heavy lift helicopter as it recovers a Piasecki H-21 Shawnee from a rice patty.

 

[Renault]

Stearman,

French had MP 40's in Indochina early on ( as well as a vast assortment of other weapons), but the issues they had with them was the quality of ammo. Apparently a lot of the Brit ammo they had just wasn't as hot as it needed to be.

Back to topic. Wouldn't bother me any if you wore a helmet at the range. But you'd be hard pressed to get me back in one!

 

[Harp]

Stearman,

French had MP 40's in Indochina early on ( as well as a vast assortment of other weapons), but the issues they had with them was the quality of ammo. Apparently a lot of the Brit ammo they had just wasn't as hot as it needed to be.

...recall Spanish ball worked fine with Schmsrs.[angel]

 

[Otter]

Horace,
That's the M43 cap or the earlier Bergmutze. The 43 was general issue but the mutze was only issued to alpine troops and had a slightly different shape.
If anyone is interested there was an amazing thread on here about a year or so ago with a whole bunch of guys who had done a reenactment group of WWII German Mountain troops. Their gear was just superb. He had loads of photos of them trecking in the Alps.

 

[Spitfire]

What do you wear in the bedroom? A 1700 Casanova outfit or a Batman outfit? Does it feel strange? If it doesn't, go for it.

 

[Stanley Doble]

If you want to wear your war surplus gear, the firing range would be the place for it. As opposed to the Post Office or the IRS building.

 

[Renault]

...recall Spanish ball worked fine with Schmsrs.[angel]

Yeah! Hot stuff!!!!

 

[green papaya]

here's a reenactor wearing WWII GI gear firing a M3 "Gease gun" sub-machine gun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL5q29wnzks

 

[Stearmen]

Stearman,

French had MP 40's in Indochina early on ( as well as a vast assortment of other weapons), but the issues they had with them was the quality of ammo. Apparently a lot of the Brit ammo they had just wasn't as hot as it needed to be.

Back to topic. Wouldn't bother me any if you wore a helmet at the range. But you'd be hard pressed to get me back in one!

About all I know about the French in Indochina is, the first American deaths were at Dien Bien Phu on May 6, 1954 and the french ground crews could not pronounce Bear, so, the Grumman F8F-1s became Beercats!

 

[Renault]

Most of what folks know here is as you said DBP and the extremely bogus scenes from the beginning of "We Were Soldiers".

Suggested reading Benard Fall's books "Hell In A Very Small Place" and "Street Without Joy"
And Martin Windrow's "The Last Valley".

Helmets. The topic. I really doubt anyone would say a thing to you. If they do, tell em it's for safety reasons! Nobody ever argues against safety!!! but I really doubt they will.

 

[Edm1]

If I saw you at a public range wearing a helmet, I would think you were weird. But I wouldn't say anything...have at it but expect looks. If you don't care what total strangers think, do it.

 

[p51]

If I saw you at a public range wearing a helmet, I would think you were weird. But I wouldn't say anything...have at it but expect looks. If you don't care what total strangers think, do it.

That's the best advice so far.

 

[Spitfire]

it would be kind of fun wearing WWII - Vietnam era helmets & gear and firing the weapons of the time period , kind of like living history, but people at the public range might think it's funny? I guess it's best to have access to a private range out on a farm or something to do that?

So what happened, GP ? Did you do it? What were the reactions. If any....just curious.

 

[green papaya]

So what happened, GP ? Did you do it? What were the reactions. If any....just curious.

nope, I would feel silly wearing a helmet at a public range, if it was at a WWII or Vietnam war reenactment I might wear something like that if everybody else was doing the same thing at a special event.