Description
Original issue US military 2 piece mess kit
A NOTE about the “Stainless Steel Controversy and History of No Contract Stamps”
Rest assured that these mess kits are not fake or made of aluminum. The military no longer puts dates on the mess kit itself. The date is on the box. It is coded on the contract number. SP0500-01-D_0165. 01 indicates 2001. One of the most commonly seen features on United States Military Equipment and Clothing is a DA, DSA, DLA, or SPO Contract Number stamp. If you correctly read the stamp, you will know when your item was manufactured.
The first was DA, which stands for Defense Agency. It ran from 1953 to 1961. It was superseded by the DSA, which stands for Defense Supply Agency. It was used from 1962 to 1977. After that, the DLA, the Defense Logistics Agency took over from 1978 to 1993. From 1994 to the present, the SPO – System Program Offices have been in charge of procurements. The SPO stamp has the year of manufacture as the first two number code following the initial 6 character alphanumeric code; ie: XYZ23A-05-xxxx would indicate an item made in 2005.
Stainless Steels and Magnets
Steel is a metal that magnets stick to because iron can be found inside steel. While some have more chromium, some might have more iron in them. That is why you will find that while some types of stainless steels are magnetic, other stainless steel types will not make magnets stick to them. Higher quality stainless has chromium instead of iron because of food contact.
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