Posted on 12/26/2018 5:04:34 AM PST by w1n1
The M3 "grease gun" was one of the simplest, ugliest, and cheapest personal weapons ever fielded by the U.S. military. But, as one U.S. Marine combat veteran recalled, what this crude submachine gun lacked in looks, it more than made up for that with brutal effectiveness.
The original M3 submachine gun was commissioned shortly before the U.S. entered World War II as a replacement for the Thompson M1928 submachine gun. The Thompson, although a popular and effective weapon, was not well suited to the demands of wartime high-volume manufacturing.
Thompson production called for skilled machinists to perform many complicated machine operations and required large quantities of high grade steel. The result was a weapon that was expensive to manufacture and slow to produce. What was needed instead was barrel, bolt, and firing mechanism.
The one-piece telescoping wire stock can be removed and used as a cleaning rod, disassembly tool and, on the later M3A1 variant, as a magazine loader.
THE GREASE GUN is a compact weapon with an overall length of 29.8 inches with the stock extended and 22.8 inches with the stock collapsed. The barrel is 8 inches long. Read the rest of M3 grease gun.
“Col. Bat Guano was using one!”
—
I asume you mean a Krummlauf. I think it’s fitted so you have to shoot holding the weapon on it’s side, I believe the attachment fits so that it’s barrel bends toward the ground when held as a normal gun.
I’ll have to watch “Dr. Strangelove”, it’s probably the only Kubrick film I haven’t yet seen!
Heheheheh...”Yer gonna have to answer to the Coca Cola company!”
Actually, it was my mistake, he was carrying a carbine!
My mistake...he was carrying a carbine! But great scene anyway!
Dr. Strange love. But it was an M1 carbine.
Kubrick’s Klassic!
Dr.Strangelove,
Required Watching.
“No Fighting in the War Room!”
Dr. Strangelove is in my top 5!. You haven’t seen it? It’s awesome.
No Fighting in the War Room!
—
I think that was lifted and adapted for one of my fave scenes in “WarGames”, at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex:
“Whoa, whoa, you can’t run in here! Somebody could get hurt!”
I’ll have to watch Strangelove this week.
“Dr. Strangelove is in my top 5!. You havent seen it? Its awesome.”
—
I haven’t seen all the modern (non-Golden Era) classics. As I mentioned to someone hereabouts the other day, I just got around to watching “Taxi Driver” within the last few weeks!
For me, it would be too tough to pick a top five. At least as an overall category - I’d have to break it down by genre/sub-genre and, in some cases, make the list longer - with at least 10 to 25 top films.
The Matell version was the best Christmas present I got in 1956.Burned through a roll of caps in about 5 seconds.
A firearm with blowback operation does not need frequent cleaning (in an average environment). The blowback mechanism has quite large clearances.
I have a Hi-point .45 carbine. Blowback operation. Hi-point specifies that the new owner should not clean the rifle until after firing the first thousand rounds. Unless going into long-term storage, of course.
Just watched Strangelove yesterday as a Christmas treat.
It find it interesting that some conservatives (or pro-military) people have a distaste for the movie.
It is satire! Pure satire. Of course, they poke fun at the process of nuclear deterrence.
I Love the movie unabashedly. I love the opening scene where they show, as an intro, a B-52 and a KC-135 doing their thing (a snickeringly disguised sexual overtone to ‘sneak’ past the censors) to a nice, orchestral version of “Try a Little Tenderness”! The contrast alone is humorous!
I love the ending, with nuclear bomb explosions prominent, to the music of Vera Lynn’s “We’ll Meet Again”!
Different time...different place!
I was a tank commander on a M48A3 tank with the 77th Armor in Vietnam on the DMZ. OEM equipment was 2 M3A1 SMG’s per tank. That was one of the finest and most reliable weapons I ever used. I dropped it in mud with the ejection port cover open, to see if it would still work. I scooped the mud out of the chamber with my little finger so that rounds could enter it. I did nothing else. The thing went thru two magazines of continuous 30 round bursts, ejecting mud along with cartridge cases. It was practically self cleaning!!
The bolt ran along two guide rods that were located in holes at the back of the stamped and welded receiver. That contributed to it’s smoothness and controllability. It was ridiculously easy to maintain and repair. I think that penny for penny, it was one of the best SMG’s ever designed.
The only weakness was the mag. I cured that by pressing two mag springs together and stuffing them into the magazine tube. It NEVER failed to run perfectly with that setup. Zero stoppages.
Of course it was my conceit that only I would see something that tens of thousands of people far more into the military aspect or lore of the movie would have missed...:)
And Gran Torino, one of my other favorites!
Nowadays, they would have a SWAT team closing in on you.
Back then, you would use your toy grease gun to mow down a whole row of your friends, who would try to fall on the ground in the most realistic fashion possible!
How times have changed.
My buddy told me when he came home after being discharged from the Navy (he and I had joined up together) he had a practice bomb and a .22 rifle in his luggage!!!!!!
You’ve learned well, Son of Humblegunner!
I’ve watched Dr. STRANGELOVE
many times and I’m not sure
What you are pointing out.
Help me out,Please.
I love Trivia!
I see an arrow and a shadow that looks like a B-17.
That’s what I saw (the shadow)...I was all excited, but...it was widespread knowledge.
Apparently, they rented a flyable B-17 and installed cameras in it to shoot footage of the scenery over which they would have the model of the B-52 placed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.