Carried one for a while. Damned boat anchor when carrying six mags. Good brush chopper and never had a failure.
It was a novelty and I went back to my trusted M-14. If you’re going to pack that kind of weight might as well go with a battle rifle.
Couldn't agree with you more! I carried an M3A1 as my local security patrol weapon for about two weeks and the weight, the difficulty in loading magazines, the slow rate of fire and the limited range made me beg for my M-14 back.
The M-14 tore through stuff just fine up close and gave you the option to hit things hard at 500M +, all for the same weight load. No contest!
As a tanker, I carried fifteen. Used a stateside buttpack with all the dangle straps cut off it, and a carry sling clipped onto the gromets where the suspender straps were supposed to go.
Mine worked, always, even in monsoon constant drizzle when lube oil wouldn't stay on a rifle for more than an hour or two. Worst problems I ever had was ripping the sling swivel off one carrying it by the sling [same as an M1 carbine sling] on a parachute jump; after that I taped it across the top of my reserve chute. The other little *problem* was that the riveted-on stud on the ejection port cover that blocked the bolt and thereby served as a safety could shear off, and folks got sorta nervous about a fella who carried his M3A1 with the cover open all the time.