THE LATEST ADDITION TO MY COLLECTION...
...the M40 gas mask! I bid sniped this one off of shopgoodwill, hell of a find for a hell of a price.
For those who don't know, this mask was the US gas mask from the 80s until it was replaced by the M50 in the early 00s.
One unique feature, which you can see in the first image below, is its 'second skin.' Long story short, the base material of the facepiece (green) is made of silicone rubber - which is good at a lot of things, but not so good at resisting blister agents. So to keep the mask from being damaged by certain chemicals the wearer may encounter, a butyl rubber second skin (black) is fixed over the mask.
I intend to remove the second skin at some point, as well as take off the lens outserts and reconfigure which side the filter connects to. I'll probably change it all back to normal afterwards, I just want the experience.











