Glad you find them interesting and of use, thanks for the kind words!

Interesting, thanks for the information!

Soldier of Fortune's reproduction web equipment doesn't hold up in comparison to original I'm afraid. As said in previous videos I would highly recommend purchasing original items wherever possible.

Many thanks! I will try and get the measurments for you as soon as I can.

Glad you thought so!

I'm not aware of aluminium being unsafe to eat from, not something I've heard before.

Acidic foods. Is tomatoes, vinegar can cause tiny amounts of aluminium to leech into the food. Excessive Aluminium consumption is marked to be a trigger to the onset of Dementia.. so not unsafe as such, but being used very regularly could be detrimental to your long term health.

It's got 4 rivets holding the handle on

Introduced as part of the late war jungle equipment, they are of a different pattern to these early war tins.

Thank you matey 🙃

why have extra weight

You can indeed get mess tins nowadays with handles made of aluminium but they aren't of the pre-WW2 pattern discussed in this video. I am referring to the 1943 spec 24 hour ration in the video the contents of which all fitted into one small cardboard box which itself fitted in the large mess tin half. I'm interested to know what period of 24 hour ration you are referring to, could you be a little more specific than 'back in the day'? The British Army has been dabbling with 24 hour rations since 1943 as I say and they vary quite considerably in form and contents over the years. The one-pint rule you stated only holds true with the later aluminium mess tins, not the early Second World War variety which are the focus of this video, one pint in the early war small mess tin come up to the centreline of the upper rivets.

@@RiflemanMoore " I'm interested to know what period of 24 hour ration you are referring to, could you be a little more specific than 'back in the day'?" I was using them in the mid-70s, but I don't recall the date of manufacture. I do remember they had the main meal in cans, and contained oatmeal blocks and tubes of sweetened condensed milk, which I would combine to make a delicious porridge. I also remember some menus had a tin of bacon roll, which the instructions said could be eaten cold, or fried in the fat included in the can. I used to have an empty ration pack box, containing a pile of can openers.

I know the type you mean, thanks for that, there is a video on a very early '80s example on my channel which is very similar. Unusual that it managed to survive unconsumed! You're not the first to mention the oatmeal block with condensed milk, something I feel I must try at some point in the future as I have a supply of ration pack oatmeal blocks, just need to get some condensed milk.

I've just bought a new set of army issue and the handles are stainless steel. 🇬🇧

That makes sense, they were designed to be compatible with the 1937 Pattern and the 1958 Pattern rear pouches were designed with the mess tins in mind.

That would make sense!

I have a set of Dutch Mess Tins in sand-blasted stainless steel, marked: 11 06 / DUT. No rivets, but a workman-like series of 6 spotwelds [3 over/3 under] securing each handle hinge. They have later-styled rounded corners. Happy with them.

Of this pattern? The late war aluminium mess tins are actually a noticeably different shape.

It's a late war 1 matey I was just pleased to find one tho

I've got another one the that says bb 68 on it as well no idea where it came from tho