Fresnel
OberFeldwebel
Fresnel
war_junky 91
Rommel_Desert_Fox
Where can I get a cheap but reliable gas mask?
http://www.theepicenter.com/military_surplus.html
Scroll down, last two items on the page are a gas mask and replacement filters.
BUYER BEWARE. Most Israeli gas masks were made in the 70's and 80's, and have an effective shelf life of 20 years. Yeah, gas masks have a shelf life. Beyond it they may or may not still work. There's no guarantee.
Might have been 80's-90's and ten years, but either way the point stands.
Yeah, it's the chromium you want to worry about.
Some questions have been brought up about the new gasmasks that don't contain them but are nearing the expiration on the shelf life. No idea what they'll cause now.
Apparently it can poison you after long exposure.
Quote:
The National Research Council's Committee on Toxicology's Subcommittee on Chromium Contamination in Army Face Masks reviewed the possible health risks to soldiers associated with exposure to U.S. Army gas-mask canisters containing activated charcoal impregnated with hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen. The canisters are attached to masks used to detoxify toxic gases, such as hydrogen chloride and cyanogen chloride. In 1982, reports surfaced of dark smudges on the faces of mask users; the smudges were traced to leaking of activated charcoal fines from canisters. The carbon smudging was also associated with some exposure to hexavalent chromium. The subcommittee's review of data provided by the Army on te amounts of chromium released during tests of gas-mask canisters indicated that the amounts of insoluble hexavalent chromium--chromium (VI)-found in the C2 canister (developed by the Canadian Army) and in the field- fixed and redesigned MiOA1 canisters are well within the limits implied by standards set by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health under worst-case mask use conditions. Although those limits were exceeded for unfixed M10A1 canisters, the lifetime cancer risk even in that case was estimated to be less than 1 x 10(-4) under realistic conditions of use.
Canisters have their own separate shelf lives, but you can always buy factory-new ones. I'm talking about the actual mask itself. The rubber loses its flexibility and its ability to create a good seal.
Oh yeah.
Hmm, isn't there a powder or some kind of paste that you can spread on latex or whatever kind of rubber they use on it to keep it supple?
IMO, just keep the mask in a semi-dry place and out of the sun and in lower heat.
I left my Russian gas mask near a window and it turned the rubber a kind of brown. eek
