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Surplus Gas Masks
Looking on reddit, and there are a lot of experts on gas masks. And many of them on concentrated in the /gasmasks subreddit.
Common questions people are asking are pretty straight forward...how do I buy a gas mask? Is this supplier (link to a military surplus store) a reputable seller of gas masks? Can I trust this gas mask?
As far as I can tell, 99.9% of the supply of gas masks available on the internet (and 100% of the ones available at a brick-and-mortar surplus store) are surplus masks, in that they originally were purchased by some government agency, spent the entire duration of their rated lifespan in storage, were then rotated out of stock, and finally re-purchased by a third-party seller at government auction/sale.
This is a foundational concept for understanding military surplus masks: they are, by definition, expired safety equipment.
Many, many gas masks are purchased, and the number of them that get used in some sort of chemical attack or even an industrial accident isn't zero, but approaches zero,
Once they have exceeded their rated lifespan, they are essentially worthless to the agency possessing them and they go up for auction.
What is the price difference between a surplus gas mask and a brand new still-in-its-rated-lifespan mask? I have never worked for an organization (law enforcement, military) that needs brand new gas masks. I imagine there's a completely separate supply chain.
And another frustrating thing is that between surplus stores and these first-party suppliers there seems to exist a layer of overpriced gas masks being marketed as fresh masks but are probably surplus gas masks.
Mira Safety - These are probably surplus gas masks.
Parcel Safety - These are probably surplus gas masks.
MSA Safety - Some of these may be actual current gas masks, only because they are priced at hundreds of dollars ($600 or more).
Here is a link to Avon Protection, who is an actual manufacturer of gas masks. They will sell you gas masks for a similar amount ($500-700).
Ultimately, I know almost nothing about current gas masks. Everything I know is about surplus gas masks. And surplus gas masks are all expired. Maybe they are still good? But they are technically expired.
Common questions people are asking are pretty straight forward...how do I buy a gas mask? Is this supplier (link to a military surplus store) a reputable seller of gas masks? Can I trust this gas mask?
As far as I can tell, 99.9% of the supply of gas masks available on the internet (and 100% of the ones available at a brick-and-mortar surplus store) are surplus masks, in that they originally were purchased by some government agency, spent the entire duration of their rated lifespan in storage, were then rotated out of stock, and finally re-purchased by a third-party seller at government auction/sale.
This is a foundational concept for understanding military surplus masks: they are, by definition, expired safety equipment.
Many, many gas masks are purchased, and the number of them that get used in some sort of chemical attack or even an industrial accident isn't zero, but approaches zero,
Once they have exceeded their rated lifespan, they are essentially worthless to the agency possessing them and they go up for auction.
What is the price difference between a surplus gas mask and a brand new still-in-its-rated-lifespan mask? I have never worked for an organization (law enforcement, military) that needs brand new gas masks. I imagine there's a completely separate supply chain.
And another frustrating thing is that between surplus stores and these first-party suppliers there seems to exist a layer of overpriced gas masks being marketed as fresh masks but are probably surplus gas masks.
Mira Safety - These are probably surplus gas masks.
Parcel Safety - These are probably surplus gas masks.
MSA Safety - Some of these may be actual current gas masks, only because they are priced at hundreds of dollars ($600 or more).
Here is a link to Avon Protection, who is an actual manufacturer of gas masks. They will sell you gas masks for a similar amount ($500-700).
Ultimately, I know almost nothing about current gas masks. Everything I know is about surplus gas masks. And surplus gas masks are all expired. Maybe they are still good? But they are technically expired.