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.
It is the shadow of a B-17 from WWII, not a B-52!
The arrow was put there by my indian alter-ego “Cow Pissing on Flat Rock”...
….or onl ($100.00 if you survive the cartel arms merchant transaction)
Yes. I was surprised how slow the rate of fire was. The Swedish K was similar - more elegant, but 9mm.
When I was stationed in a Cav unit in Ft Carson, 1996; they had a few of these in the Armory. I couldn’t believe it. I think they were turned in not too long after, shame I didn’t have a chance to fire it. Held one though. Pretty cool.
I see it, Yes.
Looks like a small single engine
High Wing in the cloud near the
Arrow too.
Of course the B-52 is a model.
Thanks.
A few years ago I inherited several boxes of US Military 9mm ammo dated 1966. Curious as to it’s application I did some research and found that one of the grease gun variants was chambered in 9mm for supply to WW2 resistance fighters in Europe where 9mm was plentiful when liberated from Nazi stockpiles. Not wanting to use these hotter rounds in my M9 I traded them to a dealer.
“Dr.Strangelove’’.
Heheh...I was so excited and proud of myself until I did an internet search and saw it had been pointed out almost from the day it hit the theater back when it first came out!
Heh, “Preversions”....
Seems like the funniest thing: you’d think that the Soviets, with their indifference to the lives of their own people, would have been arming cannon fodder with the cheapest guns. Instead, they had more of a conventional submachine gun as their standard weapon, as I understand it - and they specified chrome bores in their guns.Did the Russians have anything resembling the grease gun in their inventory?
It surprises me that AFAIK the Soviets didn’t have anything like the grease gun. Instead, they issued a more conventional submachine gun as it standard issue weapon. Even had chrome-plated bores in them . . .
The lack of a tail number?
Hehehehe...completely creepy, and watching the look on Mandrake's face (Peter Sellers) as he says this is hilarious!
Great movie...no doubt.
Dang it, there is always ONE of you around...:)
The PPsh-41 was the standard issue Soviet sub machine gun. It was pretty primitive. With a 71 round drum magazine and a cyclic rate that could exceed 1000 rpm (depending on the ammo) it was pretty effective. They issued them to troops who rode into battle on top of tanks. About 6 million were made.
Captured ones were particular favorites of German troops. Some were even converted to 9mm and called the MP41. (the original cartridge was 7.62x25)
LOL!
I have a LIFE magazine dated January 26, 1953 with a picture of my dad, who was a 2nd Lt., at the Berlin railroad yard talking with a SFC who was complaining that U.S. Customs may not stop Red-Starred train taking suspected goods from Germany to Czechoslovakia. At that time were was lots of smuggling of steel, machine tools, chemicals and whatever else the Soviets might have needed......
Dad was assigned to escort David Douglas Duncan, a photographer for LIFE, who was doing a photo expose' of the underground world of smuggling from West Berlin to the communist East......
Along with the magazine, I also have two black and white photos of he and Duncan in dad's office chatting and drinking coffee.
As an aside, a close friend and fellow Vietnam era vet was stationed in Berlin back around 1971 - 72. He and a friend made a trip into E. Berlin and smuggled out a family of 4 across Check Point Charlie in the trunk of a specially modified vehicle to accommodate them.....
Now that's a name from the past.
I spent a of time marveling over his pictures and stories, even if I didn't agree with some of his, um, shall we say, pacifist views.
He just recently died, I think.
Your Dad was involved in some rich history...history that you should cherish.
I've often wished I had the ability to put all my "memories" into some sort of form, for those that go after me, but I don't have the journalistic talent.
I've left lots and lots of stuff for my daughter (who does have the talent) to put some sort of book together when I'm gone.
Save all that stuff...someone will rejoice in the treasure trove.
And yes, I remember going through old dusty, musty records in Mannheim, and the accounts of various US Soldiers that had to look the other way while so much Nazi technology and riches was spirited out by the Soviets.
It's one thing that I've always faulted Eisenhower on.
He could have put a screeching halt to most of it, but for whatever reason, he did not.
Some say he was ordered from on high to concentrate on the rocket and atomic stuff...so, you know, lost to history.
Amazingly, very little of it was classified and there wasn't a whole lot of redaction, but then, it was common knowledge as to what ol' Joe Stalin was up to.
If it wasn't tied down or a GI wasn't sitting right on top of it, the Soviets boxed it up and back to Mother Russia it went.
Interesting stuff.
Colonel Jack D. Ripper.
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