Army surplus respirators and NBC kit

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Blue407
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Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2014 11:59 am

Army surplus respirators and NBC kit

Post by Blue407 »

Morning All

Obviously the Ebola scare is the current topic, but if I wanted to get a respirator and chemical suit, are the Army surplus ones any good? I fully appreciate they were designed for the job and help protect soldiers, but they have now been supersedes wit better models and any spare canisters, even if sealed are most likely out of date.
Obviously, if we are talking about Ebola, decontamination is important, so the ability to easily do this for any kit I purchase is critical.

The S10 British Army respirator and the Canadian equivalent are readily available online, as are the replacement filters.

The British Army NBC suits are relatively cheap and of course have an advantage in some situations being camouflaged.

Or is their definite Opsec advantages in staying 'normal', going for off the shelf kit from Amazon for example to blend in with anybody else?
If it helps, I live on the edge of a small town, literally seconds down the road from both rural areas and major motorways and plan on staying put if at all possible.

Any thoughts, opinions gratefully received :)
Last edited by Blue407 on Wed Oct 15, 2014 11:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
Yorkshire Andy
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Re: Army surplus respirators and NBC kit

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

I still like the british army Avon s10 I managed to obtain a brand new one still sealed in its bag..

Yes filters expire but the army ones come vacume packed in foil which I hope gives them a good service life after they "go out of date”
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
Blue407
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Re: Army surplus respirators and NBC kit

Post by Blue407 »

Yorkshire Andy wrote:I still like the british army Avon s10 I managed to obtain a brand new one still sealed in its bag..

Yes filters expire but the army ones come vacume packed in foil which I hope gives them a good service life after they "go out of date”
Does anyone know what expires? If its related to Nuclear protection then it won't matter for Ebola for example...

The Canadian masks, which I think are based on the S10 are also readily available and cheaper!

Any ex-Squaddies who can provide us some more information on all of these?
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pseudonym
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Re: Army surplus respirators and NBC kit

Post by pseudonym »

**** NB - I'm just a bloke on the internet ******

The S10 respirator needs to sit flush to the face - no beards allowed I'm afraid.

They came in sizes 1-4 with 80% of users taking a size 2, IIRC.

Make sure you have the correct size, and the bands haven't degraded.

Remove the filter completely and whilst wearing the mask cover the hole with the palm of your hand, then breathe in.

You should find the mask sticking to your face and no air getting into your lungs.

Found a wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S10_NBC_Respirator

**** NB - I'm just a bloke on the internet ******



HTH
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Blue407
Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2014 11:59 am

Re: Army surplus respirators and NBC kit

Post by Blue407 »

pseudonym wrote:**** NB - I'm just a bloke on the internet ******

The S10 respirator needs to sit flush to the face - no beards allowed I'm afraid.

They came in sizes 1-4 with 80% of users taking a size 2, IIRC.

Make sure you have the correct size, and the bands haven't degraded.

Remove the filter completely and whilst wearing the mask cover the hole with the palm of your hand, then breathe in.

You should find the mask sticking to your face and no air getting into your lungs.

Found a wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S10_NBC_Respirator

**** NB - I'm just a bloke on the internet ******



HTH

But, are the filters any use after they expire? that's the million £ question... especially against Ebola.
Yorkshire Andy
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Re: Army surplus respirators and NBC kit

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

To be fair the cost of a p3 40mm DIN filter I would buy new....
http://www.arco.co.uk/products/1F4200
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
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handyandy
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Re: Army surplus respirators and NBC kit

Post by handyandy »

NBC suits have a short shelf life once opened and worn.Also be prepared to look like a dirty old tramp due to them being charcoal lined!it rubs off and is really annoying when u are suited and booted and sweating a lot.the old s10s have been replaced with something a bit more functional.tbh id just go on amazon and search around
there for respirators,filters etc which will prob be better.
there was a reason why british forces were buying gear off the yanks during op granby!!!our gear was shit!
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Trawlerman
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Re: Army surplus respirators and NBC kit

Post by Trawlerman »

I got one of these recently.

Image

It's the Czech M10m mask. I seriously doubt that it will be any good for NBC use but for riot purposes such as Tear Gas it'll be alright. When it comes to NBC i'm afraid I just don't have the facilities or knowledge to decontaminate and dispose of any gear that might be contaminated. I think the real threat in that area is from Dirty Bombs and they are very much localised. I live on the outskirts of town and it would be highly unlikely to happen on a housing estate. My biggest concern is the Petrochemical facilities at BP Saltend, but considering they have been open over 100 years and not had anything go bang on a major scale it's unlikely to happen now.

I keep the M10M just in case as always.
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Smudge
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Re: Army surplus respirators and NBC kit

Post by Smudge »

Blue407 wrote:

But, are the filters any use after they expire? that's the million £ question... especially against Ebola.

Ebola not being airborne, you don't need a full NBC suit let alone the mask and filter. So with that said, if you wear the mask you won't need the filter for protection against Ebola.
If at first you don't succeed, excessive force is usually the answer.