Posted on 06/07/2017 10:19:45 AM PDT by w1n1
In this segment of WW2 firearms, two lucky shooters from Iraqveteran8888 Youtuber got a chance to fire the M3A1 "Grease Gun" and in doing so they were in awed by its raw power. Watch as they shoot this historic firearm, showcasing how forceful it still is today.
According to Wikipedia, “The original M3 was an answer to the somewhat complex design and high production cost of the M1A1 Thompson during World War II.” This 'Grease Gun' was made cheaper for WWII, and used actively up until Desert Storm.
Did you notice how accurate the firing was? It was by no means created for precision shooting as it’s main purpose was for area shooting.
This gun was semi accurate up to 75 yards, so if you're looking to get your own soon be sure to shoot within this range. Chambered for the .45ACP cartridge, it is notable for its very low rate of fire – 350-400 rpm, which made it quite controllable and easy to shoot for relatively inexperienced troops. See the rest of the grease gun WW2 footage here.
SME Aisle 1 please....
Yep. My M88 crews all had them.
You got lager on guard duty?
Cool!
Sorry, can’t help myself sometimes.
I think lived across the parade field from you, Scouts, CSC, 3/33 Armor.
The class VI store and the Rod & Gun Club were right behind our barracks, I was there a little later though, ‘80-’82.
Parade ground was still off limits after dark though and an SDO doing a walk through got very, very angry one night when “Doc” Savage, one of our mechanics whipped out a tape measure to “measure the LT for his wall locker”.
We didn’t have any Grease guns in Scouts but the guys on the cherry picker in HQ plt did and we got to fire them for familiarization like we did Soviet small arms, in case we ever picked one up.
We did a lot of crawling around on/in Soviet vehicles in Vilseck for familiarization too; ammo, fuel storage positions, kill anybody with more than one antennae, etc.
The “lager” was the night time gathering in of the company, not beer. Lager was an old German/British term. Actually I was in 2-27FA as a recon Sgt for B/1/32. The 2LT who got his M-16 bent was the FO team chief for my battery. We were short 2LT FOs, so, as the senior recon Sgt, I was sent to B Company as its primary FO. Thus I was in the first group of 13F FIST team MOS folks.
I know, I was teasing, I think the word ( laager ) came into English via the Anglo-Boer War.
I know, I was teasing, I think the word ( laager ) came into English via the Anglo-Boer War.
It sounds like WWII. Masculine, no frills, get the job done right with more to spare.
I thought you were teasing, but figured to explain for those who may not have heard the term. And you are correct, laager, I had misspelled it, did come from the Anglo-Boer War.
Been over 40 years so memory is kind faint but describing where you were stationed, was this at Kirchgoins “the rock”?
My first tour with with 3d Bde, 3d Armored Div at Ray Barracks, Friedberg (where Elvis Presley served). Second tour with with 3-12 Cav at Budingen and 3AD DivArty HQ at Hutier Kaserne in Hanau. Kirchgoens is now a massive trucking transfer facility. Only the post chapel remains as a memorial.
Go to www.usarmyeurope.com and look up either Kirchgoens or 1st Bde, 3AD on it. I there there are some shots of what it looks night now. That is a great site for all of the posts, kasernes, and units that use to be in Germany.
Yes, Ayers Kaserne or “the Rock”, 1st Bde, 3rd Armored Div.
When I was there (’80-’82) it was 5 bns, 3 armored and 2 mech infantry.
Kirch Gons was the town at the base of the hill, though there were several similarly named towns around the post; Pohl Gons, Eber Gons, Oberkleen, Neiderkleen, Huttenberg, I’m probably mangling the spelling.
I wish I had got out into the country side more.
I wasn’t a barracks rat, friends and I went to all the little wine fests, harvest fests and carnivals we could get to, visited local ruined castles and such, had a few German friends but wish I had done seen/more.
I took two separate month long leaves in Europe but only got as far as the UK, France, Holland and Belgium, back packing, camping and youth hostels.
You can’t throw a biscuit with out hitting something historic over there, our local training area had a feature running through it, the ruins of the Roman border wall.
Butzbach where the 1st Bde arty was at the time had a plaque on a the city wall with a little park next to it that a German speaking fellow E5 translated for me one night on courtesy patrol while picking up drunks before the MPs or Polizei did, lol.
Anyways the plaque had something on it about a Hessian regiment that garrisoned Butzbach in the past and had served in America as mercenaries for the Brits during our War of Independence.
I was there 71/73 at the time of the baeder/meinhoff gang shenanigans. There was over 20 members of the gang and all over Germany their pics were posted everywhere. As they were arrested or terminated a new flyer would come out with a red 0 across their face. Being that military personnel were being targeted, we were encourage not to wear our uniforms off base. I remember the Officers club in Frankfort being bombed by that gang.
They were still active when I got to Germany.
I think they were calling themselves the Red Army Faction by then.
They killed a newly arrived young private for his ID card to gain access to a US facility to plant bombs and tried to kill SACEUR, Gen. Frederick Kroesen Jr., in an RPG attack on his convoy.
The General was traveling in a column of identical armored Mercedes limos when they fired on him, they missed his car entirely and struck the rear end of another car.
We had similar briefings about being careful; who you talked to, what you said, where you went and with who.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Kroesen
That's the same problem the Isaelis had when they took the Uzis away from their tankists and gave them cut-down M16 carbines, suppoisedly for *ammunition standardization* with their mech infantry. They issued 20,000 M16A1 shorties with the push-pull stoch, and within less than a year, had 9000 broken, bent, squashed and otherwise ruined weapons.
Now they've cut down some steel-receivered Glilon MAR carbines with a sidefolder stock for the tank crews, and they seem to be working much better. And as they get turned in, tankers being proud of their ability to break ANYTHING, they're getting new Tavor bullpup shorties, which seem to be both reasonably well liked and reliable as the old Uzi.
But the muzzle blast and flash from a 5.56mm cartridge in a 10-inch barreled weapon is still like a flashbulb going off. And there's a Tavor version with a shorty silencer....
Okay, one fairly short grease gun war story. With 70th Armor in Germany in the 1960s, it was still the standard weapon for tankers, and our outfit, assigned and attached to an Infantry Division had 51 M60 tanks in the tank companies and 3 M60A1s at HQ company, all with two M3 or M3A1 grease guns each. Just before one happy payday, then once per month in the US Army, a notice came down from Division HQ that ordered all payroll guards armed with M1911A1 pistols had to be *qualified*- not just trained, but on orders as having fired a qualification score, a noisy accident having occurred at a previous payroll payout at the post Finance Office.
No problem for me; I was on the NATO LeClerc Match team, and had record scored with pistol, rifle, SMG, machinegun and tank weapons; I could run anything. But finding two other guys available for the duty [a security clearance was involved, too] was a bit more of a chore, but I found one new guy in our mortar section just out of AIT who'd fired for record when trained in the States, and another in battalion scouts, same deal. I got them pistols and three mags apiece, and was ready to go next day...and another DF came in: the orders had to have been issued IN EUROPE [USAREUR] Okay-fine. They want to play games, we play games.
I caught the First Sergeant and CO, said the order applied to pistols, right? So we just won't wear pistols. Only very slight problem was that the payroll officer, a 2nd Lieutenant, hadn't qualified on orders with his .45 pistol...so I got him an M14 rifle, which he wore on a sling, magazine in place. The one I got him had a bipod and selector switch, too.
My two commandos I gave M79 grenade launchers. With live grenades, which fit in an M14 vammo pouch okay, plus one each up the spout. And I took a grease gun, and two of the 3-magazine carriers [which I never used on 5km zone border tours, preferring to use a buttpack that held the mags horizontally in back instead] on my belt. Let's go charge the castle!
We hit the finance center, and the door guards [with a .45 pistol each] just had a fit. And when I cleared my grease gun and let the bolt clank shut, it sounded like a manhole cover being dropped: CLUNK! and everyone stared. Which was the idea. Then one of the Blooper twins broke open his elephant gun, takes out the live round, and...can't really do anything with it, since his ammo pouch is full, and pockets aren't really the right way to go with a high explosive grenade. Then the other guy does the same. And the payroll officer, with an M14 across his back wanders in. If I'd thought of it, I'd have given him a bayonet, too. He signs for the loot, and to carry the moneylocker, our two grenadiers had to reload, which made a lot of finance clerks real nervous. Meanwhile, I'm covering everybody with the greasegun in my hands and myt back to the wall; once the boss signed for it, we were responsible for the payroll and the kid gloves were off.
And off we went, in a M151 roly-poly jeep and backup Dodge 3/4 ton Weapons Carrier in the event of a vehicle breakdown. Nobody, N-O-B-O-D-Y interfered with the crazies from the 70th Armor.
Just before next payday, Division HQ advised us that either stateside qualifications or USAREUR unit quals with the pistol would be considered sufficient training for future payroll escorts. Of course as tankers, we made it a point to wear our shoulder holsters instead of belt rigs.
Tankers? We're a crazy bunch,
What you call roadkill,
We call lunch.
ping
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