Hi everyone, I found a place in Canada that sells British lifeboat matches. But it's not the same thing that's printed on the vials.

http://www.survivalpro.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=159&products_id=374

Are these matches the exact same matches as those sold by Lewis International? I noticed that the NATO number is slightly different:

9920-99-966-8432 (these matches)
9920-00-966-9432 (Lewis International)

Thank you
Frankie

The jar looks the same, although the printing is different. Mine has just plain black text, this one is a little fancier and red.

Might be a new sticker (??) but who knows. The NATO matches from Lewis International that I'm familiar with look like this (left):

Are you sure that's an 8? It looks like 9432 to me.

Hi Aardwolfe

It could be a 9. I was wondering if somebody was aware of these matches and if they are the same as the one that are recommended here. I'm wondering what the number means. I guess I should ask them and order some and see for myself.

Thanks
Frankie

Hi, Frankie;

It should be the NATO Stock Number. All military equipment used by NATO has a NATO Stock Number, used for inventory purposes. I never saw any pattern to the numbers and I have no idea who arrives at the number or how, but it's used for inventory and ordering purposes.

I suppose it's quite possible to have the same item made by different manufacturers to the same specifications; as long as it was the same item, the stock number would be the same.

My guess is that these matches are to the same military specifications as the others, they're just made by a different manufacturer or in a different package.

It is probably a 9. That would make the only difference between the 2 numbers 99 or 00. 99 is the country code for the UK and 00 (or 01) is the country code for the US. All you could want to know about NSNs (except country codes) can be found @ http://www.dlis.dla.mil/nsn-story/default.htm
Ed

Thank you Eodman. You hit the nail on the head. So that's the UK lifeboat matches so I guess I can't go wrong with them.

Frankie