M3 and M3A1 Grease Gun SMGs

It looks like someone planted a row of liberator pistols in the ground, watered them every day, and in the fall was rewarded with a row of handsome sub-machine guns

"looking inside it really is just a hollow shell" man i know that feeling

As an enemy soldier it would have hurt my feelings that the US spent so little money on the weapon I was shot with.

"the M2 is pretty much a non-thing." You mean a forgotten weapon?

$200 in 1942 = $3,000 today $20 in 1942 = $300 today Just to help put things into perspective.

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.

Great video! George Hyde was my great grandfather. My family still has some of his wepon designs, and an original M31A. Wish my grandfather got more recognition

Fun fact. The Philippine marines still use the M3 to this day. And have even updated it with the addition of a rail to add optics to it.

I was issued a M3A1 as a tank gunner in the 3d Armored Cav in the late 70s. We always replaced the stock springs with the much stiffer springs from our coax machine guns, which upped the cyclic rate considerably. We called them "burp guns" because they would empty a magazine so fast, it sounded like a burp. Much fun, that!

As much as I love the beautiful piece of art that is the Thompson, The "Grease Gun" represents "function over form" in it's own beautiful way.

My father was a signal corps messenger during the war (WWII) and his personal defense weapon was the "Grease Gun". I still remember that when he saw me doing spray and pray with my toy M3 ( things were different in the 1950's ) he stopped me and showed me how to do 3 round bursts. Thanks for the memories.

I remember seeing the M3 grease gun carrying rack in our maintenance company's M88 Tank Recovery Vehicle... in 2014.

I'll just quote my pet sergeant on the subject of PDWs, and their place in the military:" [They are] not actually for killing, but for telling nasty people to fuck off and let you work in peace. "

Flip up that cover. Now you killin'. Flip it down again. Now you ain't.

This gun is iconic here in the Philippines. They even made a movie named with grease gun. Grease Gun Gang it you’re interested.

For as crude of a gun as this is in one sense, it's a marvel of engineering in another, especially when compared to the gun it was meant to replace, the Thompson. It's simple and cheap to produce; and easy to operate and disassemble, even for those not familiar with it. You don't even need tools to disassemble it; one of the tools for disassembly is another part of the same gun. How amazing is that.

I'm about 50 or 60 FW videos in and I must say, I think the most fascinating class of guns he talks about are all of these stamped ww2 smgs. Almost every country did it. I just love how they went for maximum cheap and maximum functionality with literally no flair whatsoever, in any of the designs from any country. Something about that appeals to me. Okay on to the next 50 or 60 videos!

I've introduced my grandfather, who's a finnish world war 2 veteran and a localy recognized author, to your channel. He fucking loves it and smiles while watching. Thumbs up, love your work!

My father was in both WW2 and Korea. His two favorite weapons were a 1911 in 38 Super and the Grease Gun, he favored the M3A1. At the end of WW2 he was tail gunner on a B-17 working air/sea rescue. In Korea he worked Mobile Radar Detection To find enemy SAM's behind enemy lines. During both wars he usually horse-traded with others to get those favored weapons instead of his issued M1 Garand And 1911 45. He got a Personal Presidential Citation from Pres. Truman for his work in Korea. He retired from the USAF in 1966 but was not taken off the callback list until after his death in 1980. You probably won't read this due to the time lapse between when you made this video and today's date, 5/20/2023, but I hope you do. Love your channel my favorite time periods are old west, WW2 and Korea. Thanks. Frank Tipton also USAF retired.

The simplicity of these is the key thing. It has everything you need and nothing you don't.