The M3 "Grease Gun" (more formally United States Submachine Gun, Cal. .45, M3/M3A1) was a submachine gun developed by the United States during World War II as a cheap substitute for the Thompson. It was nicknamed the Grease Gun because of its resemblance to an automotive grease gun, as well as for the fact that it contained an oil reservoir in the grip. This article does not cite its references or sources. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... .45 ACP cartridges .45 redirects here. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The word calibre (British English) or caliber (American English) designates the interior diameter of a tube or the exterior diameter of a wire or rod. ... .45 ACP cartridges .45 redirects here. ... This article lists firearm cartridges which have a bullet in the 11 mm (.433 in) caliber range. ... This article lists firearm cartridges which have a bullet in the 9 mm (.354 in) caliber range. ... In firearms terminology, an action is the system of operation that the firearm employs to seal the breech (in a breech-loading firearm), and to load consecutive rounds. ... Blowback is a system in which automatic or semi-automatic firearms operate through the energy created by combustion in the chamber and bore acting directly on the bolt face through the cartridge. ... (for paintball markers also)Rate of fire is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. ... A guns muzzle velocity is the speed at which the projectile leaves the muzzle of the gun. ... Metre per second (U.S. spelling: meter per second) is an SI derived unit of both speed (scalar) and velocity (vector), defined by distance in metres divided by time in seconds. ... Feet per second is a unit of speed; it expressses the number of feet traveled in one second. ... The metre or meter is a measure of length. ... A yard (abbreviation: yd) is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... A 30-round STANAG magazine. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... A lance corporal of the East Surrey Regiment, British Army equipped with a Thompson M1928 submachine gun (drum magazine), 25 November 1940 The Thompson was a family of American submachine guns that became infamous during the Prohibition era. ... A grease gun is a common workshop and garage tool used for lubrication. ...

History and design

When World War II began, the Thompson submachine gun was the standard U.S. submachine gun. However, the Thompson was comparatively expensive in terms of machining and time to manufacture. Newer Thompson models cost less to manufacture (e.g. the M1928 vs. the M1A1), but a brand new design was required to be produced much more economically. The basic concept of a crude, cheaper, mass-produced firearm traces back to the Chauchat of World War I, the most produced machine gun of that war. After the prototype Marlin M2 design proved too expensive to produce, the .45 caliber M3 was adopted in 1942, designed specifically for simplified production using pressed and stamped metal parts. Similar reduced manufacturing costs for a submachine gun design were undertaken by the British (Lanchester to the Sten), Germany (MP34, MP38 to MP40), and others. The Soviet Union, France and Italy would also make inexpensive submachine gun designs in the 1940s. A lathe is a common tool used in machining. ... The Chauchat (pronounced show-shah) was a light machine gun used mainly by the French Army but also by seven other nations, including the USA, during and after World War I. Its formal designation in the French Army was Fusil-Mitrailleur Mle 1915 CSRG. It was also known as the... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ... The Lanchester was a submachine gun used by the British during World War II. History In 1940, with the Dunkirk evacuation completed, the Royal Air Force decided to adopt some form of submachine gun for airfield defense. ... This article is about the submachine gun. ... The MP18 was one of the first submachine guns. ... The MP40 (Maschinenpistole 40, literally machine pistol 40) was a submachine gun developed in Germany and used extensively by paratroopers and platoon and squad leaders, and other troops during World War II. The MP40 had a relatively lower rate of fire and low recoil, which made it more manageable than...

M3 in use in Brittany, France, August 1944

The gun was made by welding two pressed-metal shells together to form the exterior of the weapon. The M3 used the blowback method of operation. It could be fired only in fully-automatic mode, but experienced soldiers could usually fire single shots with it due to its very low rate of fire (400–450 rounds per minute). The barrel was held on by a simple nut and the bolt traveled on two guide rods and springs inside the receiver. This provided clearance between the bolt and receiver, keeping foreign matter from jamming the firearm. A major weak point of the Grease Gun was its magazine. Unlike the Thompson's double-column, dual-feed magazine, the Grease Gun used a double-column design that narrowed to a single-cartridge width at the feed end of the magazine. This meant that cartridges in the double-column magazine had to overcome friction in order to reach feeding position, and required a loading device to fill the magazine to capacity.^[1] The magazine design was also sensitive to dirt and debris. The U.S. Army later issued plastic caps or covers to keep loaded spare magazines from picking up excess dirt and to protect the feed lips, but this proved to be an incomplete solution. Moreover, the Grease Gun's heavy bolt and relatively weak recoil springs (designed to provide a low rate of fire) sometimes failed to strip the cartridge from the magazine, jamming the weapon.^[2] Image File history File links Battle_of_Brittany_-_Lorient_01. ... Image File history File links Battle_of_Brittany_-_Lorient_01. ... Historical province of Brittany, showing the main areas with their name in Breton language The traditional flag of Brittany (the Gwenn-ha-du), formerly a Breton nationalist symbol but today used as a general civic flag in the region. ... Blowback is a system in which automatic or semi-automatic firearms operate through the energy created by combustion in the chamber and bore acting directly on the bolt face through the cartridge. ... M2 machine gun An automatic firearm is a firearm that will continue to load and fire ammunition as long as the trigger (or other activating device) is pressed or until it runs out of ammunition. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

In its original version, the M3 fired the .45 ACP cartridge (the same one used by the Thompson and the Colt M1911 pistol) from a 30-round detachable box-type magazine. Before firing, the ejection port had to be opened manually by the operator; this also functioned as the weapon's safety. An oiler is contained in the weapon's pistol grip. The stock doubles as the wrench for the barrel nut, a screwdriver, the cleaning rod, and as a magazine loading tool. .45 ACP cartridges .45 redirects here. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The M1911 is a single-action, semiautomatic handgun chambered for the . ... A Browning 9 millimeter Hi-Power Ordnance pistol of the French Navy, 19th century, using a Percussion cap mechanism Derringers were small and easily hidden. ... A 30-round STANAG magazine. ... In firearms, a safety or safety catch is a mechanism used to prevent the firing of a weapon for safer handling. ...

Far easier to manufacture than the Thompson, the M3 incorporated several updated design features, including a barrel that detached without tools, and a bolt that rode on two wire guide springs. A low cyclic rate of fire and straight-line recoil thrust made it easier to control than many other submachine guns, especially during automatic fire, though the spindly wire-frame stock fit few users and was rather too short.^[3]

The M3 was designed to be a disposable firearm once damaged or disabled, and no spare parts were provided to Army ordnance commands. This decision proved to be a minor catastrophe after inevitable supply bottlenecks caused reserve stocks of the M3 to run out in certain commands, forcing ordnance technicians to make emergency repairs and fabricate pawl springs in order to provide frontline units with operating weapons.^[4]

In spite of the M3's much greater simplicity and clever bolt design, the firearm was less reliable than the .45 Thompson, with a cocking mechanism that tended to break frequently and a single-column feed magazine (copied after the British Sten and German MP40) that sometimes prevented reliable feeding.^[5] When the M3 was adopted as a standard firearm, the Thompson was categorized as a "Limited Standard" or "Substitute Standard" submachine gun. The later M3A1 model corrected some of the faults of the earlier M3. New features included a revised and simplified cocking mechanism, a larger ejection port, a stronger cover spring, a reinforced rear sight, and a cartridge-feeding device built into the stock. This article is about the submachine gun. ... The MP40 (Maschinenpistole 40, literally machine pistol 40) was a submachine gun developed in Germany and used extensively by paratroopers and platoon and squad leaders, and other troops during World War II. The MP40 had a relatively lower rate of fire and low recoil, which made it more manageable than...

The M3 and M3A1 served through the Korean War and the Vietnam War. They remained in limited use with U.S. military into the 1990s, to include service in the 1991 Gulf War (e.g. drivers in the 19th Engineer Battalion, which was attached to the U.S. 1st Armored Division, deployed with the M3A1 as an alternate arm) and as a defensive weapon for the armored vehicle crews of M88A1 ARV and M60A3 main battle tanks. Combatants United Nations:  Republic of Korea,  Australia,  Belgium,  Luxembourg,  Canada,  Colombia,  Ethiopia,  France,  Greece,  Luxembourg,  Netherlands,  New Zealand,  Philippines,  South Africa,  Thailand,  Turkey,  United Kingdom,  United States Medical staff:  Denmark,  Australia,  Italy,  Norway,  Sweden Communist states:  Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,  Peoples Republic of China,  Soviet Union Commanders... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... Combatants UN Coalition Republic of Iraq Commanders Norman Schwarzkopf, Peter de la Billière, Khalid bin Sultan, Saleh Al-Muhaya, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi Saddam Hussein Strength 883,863 360,000 Casualties 378 dead, 1,000 wounded see section below The Gulf War or the Persian Gulf War (16 January 1991... The 1st Armored Division —nicknamed the Old Ironsides— is an armored division of the United States Army with base of operations in Wiesbaden, Germany. ... The M88 is one of the largest all weather Armored Recovery Vehicles currently in use by U.S. Armed Forces, dwarfing the M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank. ... Conqueror Armoured Recovery Vehicle 2 An armoured recovery vehicle (ARV) is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to repair battle-damaged or broken-down armoured vehicles during combat, or to tow them off the battlefield for more extensive repairs. ... The M47, M48 and M60 Patton were the United States Armys principal tanks of the Korean and Vietnam Wars. ...

Foreign Service

Both Nationalist China and Argentina produced locally-manufactured versions of the M3/M3A1 submachine gun for use by their own forces. Nationalist M3 guns captured by Communist forces after the fall of mainland China in 1949 were used by the latter in the Korean War. Argentine M3A1s were made under license by Fabrica Militar de Armas Portatilles "Domingo Matheu" (FMAP DM); the Chinese version was called the Type 36.

The Philippine Marine Corps currently uses the M3 as personal defense weapons for armor crews and has issued locally modified sound and flash suppressed versions to their special operations units after tests in 2004. The Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) is the marine corps of the Philippines, and is part of the Philippine Navy. ... A PDW or personal defense weapon is a compact firearm, smaller than an assault rifle or a full size submachine gun, but more powerful and flexible than a normal pistol. ...

The Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces had been formerly equipped with the M3 before they switched to the Minebea PM-9 submachine gun after Allied occupation of Japan came to an end. A small number are held in reserve with special forces units. The flag of Japan Ground Self-Defense Force The Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force ), or JGSDF, is the name of the military ground forces (army) of Japan. ...

Formerly arming the South Korean military, the M3 was replaced with the Daewoo K1 rifle. Daewoo K1 Carbine The K1/K1A Carbine is the first modern small firearm developed by Republic of Korea. ...

Variants

T20

• Experimental designation of what was type-classified as the M3. Development of the T15 project.

M3

M3

• Entered service December 1942;
• Designed specifically as a low-cost substitute for the Thompson submachine gun. Production at General Motors automobile parts plants was simplified by making use of stamped metal and only a little machining. A number of deficiencies were found during the initial two years of use. The M3 had not used the Thompson submachine gun's magazine, but a new design based on that of the British STEN and German MP40. Like those weapons, the M3's magazine narrowed to a single column at the feed end of the magazine, causing increased friction and occasional jams, especially when exposed to dust and dirt.^[6] Combat introduction was not until the Normandy campaign (June 1944), having been delayed until initial deficiencies were corrected.

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1221x528, 44 KB) Summary Picture taken during visit to Virginia War Museum, Newport News, VA. Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1221x528, 44 KB) Summary Picture taken during visit to Virginia War Museum, Newport News, VA. Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... A lance corporal of the East Surrey Regiment, British Army equipped with a Thompson M1928 submachine gun (drum magazine), 25 November 1940 The Thompson was a family of American submachine guns that became infamous during the Prohibition era. ... General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM), also known as GM, is an American automobile maker with worldwide operations and brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and Vauxhall. ... Combatants United States United Kingdom Canada Free France Poland Germany Commanders Dwight Eisenhower (Supreme Allied Commander) Bernard Montgomery (land) Bertram Ramsay (sea) Trafford Leigh-Mallory (air) Omar Bradley (US 1st Army) Miles Dempsey (UK 2nd Army) Harry Crerar (Canadian 1st Army) Gerd von Rundstedt (OB WEST) Erwin Rommel (Heeresgruppe B...

M3A1

M3A1

• Entered service December 1944;
• The A1 model corrected some of the faults of the earlier version. New features included a larger ejection port, a stronger cover spring, and a change to the cocking method. The original M3 was cocked by a crank mechanism that proved unreliable in service. On the M3A1, the bolt had a machined recess which was exposed when the ejection port cover was opened. The user had to insert a finger in the recess to pull the bolt to the cocked position. Unfortunately, the M3A1 retained the M3's single-column feed magazine, which proved problematic throughout the firearm's service life.^[7]
• The M3A1 could also be adapted to fire the 9 mm Parabellum round by changing the barrel and bolt, and an adapter permitted the use of the magazine from the British Sten or the German MP40.

Image File history File links Source : http://www. ... Image File history File links Source : http://www. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

M3 Grease gun

• Mike Ploog for a cartoon troubleshooting guide
• MCEM 1 Submachine gun, Similar weapon with grip magazine.
• List of submachine guns
• List of World War II firearms
• List of individual weapons of the U.S. Armed Forces

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... The Eisneresque Topaz: Splash panel, Werewolf by Night #13 (Jan. ... The MCEM 1(Machine Carbine Experimental Model 1) was a 9mm Submachine gun of Australian origin. ... This is a partial list of submachine guns. ... // Beretta Modello 1934: A fine compact pistol adopted as the Italian service pistol before World War II, has become one of the most popular collectors pistols. ... Individual weapons by type and current level of use. ...

References

1. ^ Nelson, Thomas B. The World's Submachine Guns, TBN Enterprises, 1977
2. ^ Nelson, Thomas B. The World's Submachine Guns, TBN Enterprises, 1977
3. ^ Weeks, John, WWII Small Arms, Galahad Boooks, 1980
4. ^ Dunlap, Roy F., Ordnance Went Up Front, Samworth Press, 1948
5. ^ Nelson, Thomas B. The World's Submachine Guns, TBN Enterprises, 1977
6. ^ Nelson, Thomas B. The World's Submachine Guns, TBN Enterprises, 1977
7. ^ Nelson, Thomas B. The World's Submachine Guns, TBN Enterprises, 1977

Bibliography

• Dunlap, Roy F., Ordnance Went Up Front, Samworth Press, 1948.
• Nelson, Thomas B. The World's Submachine Guns, TBN Enterprises, 1963.
• Weeks, John, WWII Small Arms, Galahad Books, 1980.
• Iannamico, Frank A., The U.S. M3-3A1 Submachine Gun, Moose Lake Publishing, 1999.
• Iannamico, Frank A., United States Submachine Guns, Moose Lake Publishing, 2004.
• Military Power's Machine Gun Sub section, Firearms Index (Japanese)

External links

• M3 and M3A1 discussion board and research website
• Small Arms Review: The M3A1 Grease Gun
• M-3 Submachine Gun
• Modern Firearms: M3 and M3A1
• Philippine Marine Corps M3 SpecOps Gen 2