Don't we have warehouses full of M-3 "Grease Gun" submachine guns? I remember seeing some in APCs back in my day.
Don't we have warehouses full of M-3 "Grease Gun" submachine guns? I remember seeing some in APCs back in my day.
They are still in use around the world in militarys and para-militarys.
I handled one in the early ‘90s while in ROTC. It had been well cared for. The other cadets had never heard of them.
I would hope there’s a bunch of them in warehouses somewhere... if “Captain Crunch” at Anniston Army Depot hasn’t gotten ahold of them.
JMO, but what is so bad about the M3 series submachine gun? Seemed to work well enough over 60 years for us. Perhaps because it’s too cheap to manufacture?
Have you ever actually fired a grease gun? They are fairly heavy, that’s minor. The cyclic rate is REALLY SLOW, you can get a faster fire rate (at least for one magazine full) from a 1911.
Second major problem is trying to get any accuracy out of it. remember it’s a blowback only action, nothing but the weight of the bolt (IIRC about 1 1/2 lb)
When you pull the trigger (remember, it fires from an open bolt) you release the latch holding the bolt to the rear and that heavy bolt slams forward, picking up a round, chambering it and firing it. The bolt then slams to the rear. This weight slamming back and forth presents a serious challenge to holding any kind of sight picture.
The reason the M-3 grease gun lived so long, was that it fit very nicely inside a tank. Its role was that of a ‘crew served weapon’ for when one of the crew dismounted the tank. The M-1, M-14, and M-16 were too long to find a safe storage location inside of a cramped tank compartment. I remember one of our 2LT Forward Observers taking his M-16 inside the tank he used to FO from, after being told NOT to by the CO, and the M-16 ending up as a pretzel.
Other posters have mentioned the slow cyclic rate of the grease gun as a deficiency for being a SMG and I agree. I had a friend who was a LRRP in Vietnam and he swore by the Swedish K SMG he carried on patrols.
I have no comment on which of the new SMGs should be adopted but the Grease Gun’s day is passed as a general issue SMG.
One of my bosses kept one in his truck in Vietnam along with his carbine.