I was in a mech infantry battalion in the 70s. We had M3A1s in our recovery vehicles. They were fun to shoot, with a slow and very controllable rate of fire. I did a report of survey on one that was stolen. Production cost of that generation was $65.
Weapon gets lost/stolen in 1970’s: meh, it’s fine , just get a new one from the armory, no one will even notice Weapon gets lost/stolen in 2000’s: PUT EVERY MAN IN THIS UNIT UNDER CUSTODY UNTIL WE FIND THAT GUN
One thing I’ve noticed is they rarely ever get the slow cyclic rate right in the movies with the Grease gun. It’s very slow but it also makes it very controllable and accurate.
In the dirty dozen they reversed the sound effects for the MP 40 and the grease gun. You can tell because the German that kills Franco has a grease gun and it's the same sound effect for the MP 40.
You know, it's a weird thing about cyclic rates. Some firearms are better with a slow cyclic rate, others with a faster one. With each gun, you have to find the sweet spot. The factors involved exceed the scope of this comment (unless you want a wall of text), but for my money, of all the full-auto weapons I've fired, the MP-5 SD was the walking away favorite. Probably a close second would be the Beretta 38A. The American 180 was fun as all get-out too.
I felt like you missed out on how the grease gun was still used up into the gulf war though I can understand that information is scarce, footage and scenes in media post ww2 is also pretty low. Nice job.
You are a 100% correct. Would have loved to have made this a bit longer. I used a Vietnam clip in the open stating it served into the 21st century but had a bit of a struggle finding other good clips. The long service of this weapon speaks to its design.
As a medic in the gulf war I like the grease it was easier to carry than a M16 and a whole lot easier to clean to than a M16 and in Africa fighting door to door and room to it was easier fight with do to it compact size and it would go threw walls with no problem
I knew an old farmer in Wisconsin who had been an Army Scout in the Phillipines in WW2. He told me the Grease Gun was his favorite weapon because "once you got the hang of it, it was just like throwing a controlled stream of rocks- everything you pointed it at went down".... I shudder to think of the situations he was in where he was able to put that to the test. This comment is a tribute to him and those of his kind..gone but not forgotten.
I think the thing about the M3 that really goes underappreciated is how long of a service life it had. While it's fairly well known that the M3 was still in service during the Korean and Vietnam wars, less well known is that they were still in US service as late as the Gulf War, long after the US had adopted more modern SMG's like the Uzi and MP5. Similar to the M1 & M2 Carbine, the M3 Grease gun was the cheap military surplus arm of choice for criminals and rebels around the world, up until the 70's and 80's when the sheer quantity of AK's flooding global arms market displaced older and less numerous weapons like the M3.
The M3 is actually still in service with the Philippine military. They somewhat modernized it by adding an integrated suppressor and a picatinny rail, and it is often used when seizing a ship and boarding operations
Col. Charlie Beckwith got a warehouse full of M3’s for free when he got 1st SFOD-D (Delta Force) up and running in 1977. They were superb close quarters weapons, particularly when they had a silencer attached. A skilled gunsmith could turn a run of the mill M3 into a damn fine CQB weapon. They used them well into the 80’s. If Delta thought they were worth a damn, that should be a pretty good indication of what they were really capable of.
A few M3's are still in service with the Philippine Navy but with an added picatinny rail, a red dot sight, an integral suppressor, and a modified magazine
@@hoppinggnomethe4154 true.......heck some of us still use world war 2 gear and in fact the Ukraine conflict right now had some of Ukraine soldier use the weapon from the previous war or cold war.......hey it's shoot bullet and it's still deadly........sooo yeah we gonna use it.
Back in the '60s, when I was a Marine, Force Recon had grease guns. We had M-14s, so we were curious about the M-3s. I never held one. One feature of them was that when the bolt was to the rear, they were ready to fire. When I joined G Co 2/2 the last input had been deployed to Guantanamo, and dug trenches and built bunkers to defend against any Cuban attempt to capture the base. One of their off-duty entertainments was to attend outdoor movies. The audience area was a concrete platform with wooden benches to sit on. A Marine with a grease gun was in the audience, and they asked him how it worked. He took the magazine out and showed them how to pull the bolt to the rear the movie started, and without pulling the trigger, he put the magazine back in. The movie started, and everyone began paying attention to it. Suddenly a shot went off and some yelling began as people hit the deck. The Marine with the M-3 evidently began playing with the trigger. The bolt went home and fired a round. Unfortunately for him, the muzzle was pointed at his foot. The bullet went through the foot, and due to the concrete under it ricocheted back up through it and hit the Marine on the bench in front of him in the back. Both Marines were squalling, due to their injuries, neither of which was fatal but assuredly painful. The grease gun also had an attachment I have seen photographed in a manual, but which I can't find any mention of online. It was a grooved piece that attached to the end of the barrel. It was bent to a smooth 90 degree angle and was supposed to allow you to shoot around corners without having to expose yourself. I haven't been able to find anything online about it, but I did find this: ua-cam.com/video/brWwHKcN2kc/v-deo.html
Something people forget is during the Korean War both the Communist Chinese and UN forces used the M3 Grease and Thompson sub machine guns. America gave thousands of guns to the Chinese during World War Two. The fact is the Communist Chinese had major supply chain problems because they had such a large amount of different firearms from foreign countries. American military personnel actually recovered alot of captured weapons during the Korean War and found that on average Chinese soldiers carried British Russian German Japanese and American guns that were either captured or bought during World War Two and World War One. After the Korean war China would mainly buy Soviet Union weapons.
That’s explained why this film I saw about the Chinese Civil War had lots of American kit. But also, a lot of German kit, too. They had the US semi auto rifle with the cylindrical magazine the name of which has gone right out my head. Doh!
@@geordiedog1749 oh that's the M1941 Johnson rifle. Something like 70,000 of those were made because the US Army got first M1 Garand production rifles and the US Marines were looking for new guns to replace their bolt action 1903 Springfields. So alot of Johnson rifles were used in the Pacific part of the war. The US Marines were finally all issued M1 Garands by 1943 and so alot of the stuff they didn't want went to the Chinese and Koreans fighting against the Japanese. Hence why alot of those ended up in Communist hands during the Korean war. I actually like the Johnson but it does have it's problems that made it inferior to the Garand. The loading system was finicky and you had to use two stripper clips that to fully load the gun that and it didn't do well with a bayonet attached because the barrel would moved back to cycle the action. The US Marines got second dibs on weapons because they were a smaller force compared to the standard Army.
In Korea, my oldest brother worked with a 105 howitzer crew, being in charge of aiming that weapon. Soon after arriving in Korea, he ditched his standard issue weapon, and started carrying a grease gun. Used one throughout his entire tour.
When I was kid in the 60’s playing army with friends, we had one someone’s dad had brought back from WW2. The barrel was welded shut, but it had the cocking lever and was fully functional. I remember one playmate who buried it in his backyard to hide it. Never saw it again. Sure wish I had it now.
Too bad the father didn’t have the gun papered when he got back with it from the war. A NFA papered M3 that’s functional is now worth between $30K and $40K.
M3s and M3A1s were among the most proliferate loose firearms in post-WW2 Philippines. They saw frequent use with organized crime groups, insurgents, the Armed Forces and the Constabulary. They make frequent appearances in gangster films made here
I was A Field Radio Operator in Charley Co, 4th Recon, 4th MarDiv---we qualified annually on the old M-1, but our principal T.O . Weapon was the M-3.....That Stock was also a tool to remove the Barrel and slide the Heavy Bolt out....slow firing rate but a great little MG...gl
Thanks. I was trained to service the M3 and M3A1 in 1984 at Fort Riley during their Unit Armorer Course, and then in the 1990's my arms room had 70 of them for an anti-terrorist security contract.
I was an armorer in New Jersey National Guard in the 90s and we had three of them as well in our vault. Everyone always asked me for it because it was different and of course I always chose it for our summer training for the same reasons
@@geordiedog1749 "Counter-terrorism" is running the jackals down and kicking in the doors of their lairs. "Anti-terrorism" is taking reactive and preventative measures that includes fencing, ID checks, lights, and can include armed response forces. Everybody is an antiterrorist more or less--it's boring, mundane, but vigilant to specific activities. Armed escort of people and supplies, manning checkpoints, searching vehicles for bombs, searching persons for weapons, basically expecting trouble--I made it sound more exciting that the reality. The reality was that by expending resources the ante was raised and "one or two" hostile actors would accomplish little--they'd need a coordinated attack by a squad-sized element of commando-trained people to do significant damage. Or the "managers" of the compound would have to make things easy for terrorist attackers by ignoring security breaches, by circumventing the security procedures, and otherwise acting like Very Important People (rules are for others)...
@@alancranford3398 Ah. Thank for that excellent explanation. We used to break security down into ‘physical’ ‘procedural’ and ‘relational’ which concurs pretty much with what you’re saying. Cheers.
They were popular in Vietnam as most contact was literal throwing distance where .45 ACP rounds from an automatic were very effective. It was so simple it was super reliable in the unforgiving jungle.
It is wild after all these years starting to not only know but understand what guns I was seeing in all of these movies growing up. An aspect of Enlisted that I am enjoying, it bringing more enjoyment to your productions. Thanks!
The one I saw during my time in Vietnam, at a firing range, jammed repeatedly. By then it probably was just worn out. My 45 pistol was also old, it rattled like a loose bag of parts. As he said, they were not designed for assault troops.
My granddad talked about how much he hated the 1911s they trained with before going to Vietnam being worn down and basically smoothbore- having only done cowboy action shooting before enlisting, he also disliked the pistol grips of m16's, but once told me they were better for "real fights" Sometime ago, in the 90's he bought an m1 carbine and loved it, saying he wished he got to carry one in Vietnam.
@@blackwoodsecurity531 My Dad was a WWII instructor in the 1911 & shot Expert in several different weapons despite never handling a gun prior to the draft. He said they were very accurate and easy to shoot. I am sure they were brand new.
I used an M3 as a US armor crewman in the 1980s. The scene from Fury is spot on, open the cover, stick your finger in the detent on the bolt pull back and rock and roll. The BoB scene really captures the sound and slow rof. Likely too many movies got that wrong and much too fast. It was a blast to fire and very simple to maintain - as you said a trait very much appreciated by the users! The slower rof is really beneficial in keeping the weapon on target. We were trained to fire in short 3 round bursts - common I know but with the M3 it was easy to do!
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq I used them as well and I concur with everything that Eric Boyle says. The extendable stock was also used as a tool to remove the barrel iirc. Simple safety, if bolt is back just close the cover. There was a "pin" on the underside of the cover that closed into the detent on the bolt and didn't allow it to go forward, and fire, if the cover was closed.
Fact: The Grease Gun was still in use during the Gulf War were US Tank Crews Still used them while other Units are now using the M16A2 but probably some units are still using the Grease Gun but the M3A1 model is the one that they used
My Great Grandfather was a WWII vet. He was in the 101st Airborne, which is featured a few times in this video (Look at the soldier's left shoulders with the Eagle on them). He saw action in Sicily (before he was transferred to the 101st from the 82nd), D-Day, Market Garden, The Battle of The Bulge, and then in Germany. He was a Sergeant. He used the m3 laer inthe war, but before the m3 he used an M1903 Springfield (yes he was a siniper, if you were wondering).
I carried one back in 1992 as a scout, was a M3A1 we had six in our platoon. Still had the 1911’s also but a year later we turned them in to be de-milled, but I kept the mags and the pouches for them and still got em too.
Attack force Z! One of my all time favorite movies! I remember watching it when I was a kid when it came out in 1981 on this new invention, CABLE and got HBO for a month free. I loved that silenced M3.
An old buddy of mine had been a Navy smalls arms armorer in the Vietnam War and served on Riverine boats. They had a M3A1 onboard, but one of his crew mates did not like the slow rate of fire, so he shortened the dual recoil springs in an effort to speed it up. Maybe he'd seen "The Dirty Dozen" and thought the idea was sound. The gun did fire much faster, but the resulting pounding of the massive bolt against the rear of the receiver caused a split along the welded rear seam. In the finest traditions of the Navy, my friend wrapped the end of the receiver with bailing wire and his crew mate continued to happily use it.
This is actually the longest serving SMG in US history. The first ones in the first batch had receiver and barrel not matching up properly. That's why the first American units to see combat in European theatre in overlord, didn’t have much of them. They were hot favourite among OSS and Vietminh as a weapon for ambushing Japanese patrols
I learned to handle full auto fire on a grease gun. It's hard to mess up and slow enough to maintain, I can see why a lot of troopers back then trusted the simplicity of everything going into war.
My brother in law was in Nam 67-68, came home before Tet. He was an engineer, and built roads. Admitted he had no combat experience, but said the best day he had was they had to burn up a bunch of ammo, .556, .308, and .45 acp! Said we will never get done going thru pistols, he said the Grease gun was a blast and they had a lot of fun burning up Uncle Sam's money! As ordered!
I read a comment from a Bradley crewman from the '80s about how they put a stronger spring in the grease gun and upped the firerate to a tremendous degree.
stronger spring. The springs were often weak in the 1970s. You could take one to the range and notice a change in the rate of fire if you aimed high (slower) or low (faster) The heavy bolt was going back regardless, you needed a strong spring to capture that energy and return to bolt with vigor.
I'd take that story with a grain of salt, as the M3 actually has 2 recoil springs, one on each of the 2 bolt guide rods. New springs might increase the rate some, but nothing really "tremendous".
@@chrisperrien7055 Having 10 M3A1s in my platoon, I have fired it, loaded it and cleaned them many times. In my first range experience at Ft Knox our instructors pointed the firing rate issue out on the range and all of us new 2Lts had fun demonstrating it. By the 70s, the guns were well worn including the springs.
I would have thought Z force, being Aussies, would have Owens SMG's instead of Stens and instead of M3's. The Owens was ugly, but, was the most reliable SMG of the war under the most harsh jungle conditions. and well liked by the troops.
There were so many different types of SOE units during WW 2. Everyone had their own preference. I'm sure SOE had their weapons tricked out like most SF units do. Owen SMG were featured in; THE BATTLE OF LONG TAN. THE COWRA BREAKOUT. KOKODA. THE RAILWAY MAN.
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq The Owens SMG had a rather odd history, while it was cheaper to make than the AuStens and proven to be more rugged and accurate than the Sten and Thompson SMG that army kept flip flopping on what caliber they wanted it in, first it was .45, then 380 webley i think, then 9mm para and then back to .45 before the Australian government stepped in and basically said "Ok enough fucking about, you'll use 9mm para and that's THAT"...All because they chose to ignore an SMG that they thought was just a kids hobby project and didn't want to even really LOOK at the thing in the first place but hey, when has any branch of the military been smart enough to see something and go "This has a lot of potential and could be cheaper for us to have manufactured by us and not have to pay an arm and a leg in cash for weapons to be shipped here?"
Z Unit did use Owen's that were available from when the force was formed in 1942 and manufactured in significant numbers at the Lysaght factories at Port Kembla and Newcastle. They were far more reliable than the Sten, Thompson or Grease gun in jungle conditions, there is contemporaneous wartime test footage of them being completely immersed in mud and still firing, when the Sten and Thompson failed. ua-cam.com/video/mTc2fXqWD5I/v-deo.html The Owen was still being used by Australian troops 20 years later in Vietnam. To my knowledge the Grease Gun was never issued to Australian forces.
The first time I recall seeing this weapon was in the hands of Steve McQueen in 'Hell is for Heroes'. Also the first time seeing someone with stacked magazines (three in his case)
My dad used a M3a1 bushmaster when he was in Vietnam. Got him through a lot of tough and dangerous night patrols. He bought it from the army when his 20 years was up. Shot it every Sunday after church. Even buried it with him. Ol Besty. God, what a gun
Awesome video!!! IF memory serves me correctly, the M3 Grease Gun was phased out entirely in US Army sometime early 1990s. Can remember seeing them in use up to around 1993 time-frame, or just a little after. They were primarily for armored vehicle crew members and I can remember wanting one of those weapons instead of humping the M16A2 all over the place - plus the grease gun just looked cool!!. Did get to shoot one a few times at a qualification range and it was fun
Truly probably in the top 5 in terms of firearms in history that shows how you can get a ton of shade thrown on it solely based not only on how it looks but also how it looks in comparison to what it replaced, with the Thompson being such a beautiful firearm to look at vs. the Grease Gun! I think most soldiers would choose a Thompson if they were getting their picture taken by Robert Sargent but then would put it down and pick up the Grease Gun for combat! But, hey, at least it has a cool name: Grease Gun!
The grease gun was standard issue on my tank (the m60A3) in the mid 1980's in place of the M16 rifle; I think because the M3 was smaller and took up less space in the tank. I loved firing it. It always reminded me of spraying water out of a hose.
My brother used a grease gun in Vietnam.He said .45 caliber bullets were everywhere and easier to carry a lot more as opposed to the 5.56.He served with the 1st Armored Cav.,1970-71,Bien Hoa. Start firing lower left and walk the rounds diagonally through the target area.
My grandpa-in-law said he used this gun for a while he was in the 101st Airborne in Korea. He said the rate of fire would slow down as the recoil made the gun climb. I've always found that little tidbit pretty funny about it.
i know the grease gun was more cheap to manufacture than the thompson as well as being lighter, but if i had a choice to carry either a grease gun or a thompson into battle, than i'd take the thompson.
while in an armored cav unit i8n 'Nam, I found one dirty and abandoned on the floor of one of our combat-loss M48 tanks that was in the motorpool. So I spent the day cleaning it and oiling it down. When I finally got to fire it, no wonder it was not used. Slow, very slow firing. I liked my m16 better, much better. I tossed it back in the unused tank. A .45cal 1911 I was issued later by a friend in supply was not much better. Ever thing was loose and made the pistol inaccurate. We could have used an armorer in our unit but we didn't have one.
Always one of my faves for CQB, especially with the suppressor. The low cyclic rate made it easy to get off singles or doubles. As the Philippine Marines found, plenty of room on top to weld a P rail for a red dot which would have made it even better. Great vid!
Still used by the Army into the 70's when I served. They were still issued to mechanics, jeep drivers(they also had M1911 45s), and some in transportation truck drivers. Also the 'Red Eye' (anti arcraft missle) platoon In my Infantry company carried them.
@1:19 to @1:39 is brilliant comedic juxtaposition editing. My Old Man used the M-3 in the USAF from '50 to '54 to guard the recently developed jet aircraft technology.
I *clearly* remember handling M3s during arms-room inventories, back in the early Nineties. Note that this was in a fairly high-speed Big Army mech unit.
During the Vietnam War the US Coast Guard had LORAN stations in Thailand and Vietnam to assist in aircraft and shipboard navigation. The LORAN stations in Vietnam were armed with M3 Grease Guns. I never got a chance to shoot one, but the guys that did report that they were easy to shoot and control as opposed to an M-16 in full auto. Our 82' patrol boats in Vietnam also had Tommy guns. The boat I was on had them, but I never got an opportunity to shoot one.
Yeah you mentioned the Paratroopers appreciated it will for many reasons because its small compact design and we shouldn't forget that Paratroopers before landing holded to many equipments so like the M1a1 carbine which came with fold ending the M1a3 Grasegun was small and practical and could be easily put behind the Back unlike the BAR or even the Thompson.
@@gravitatemortuus1080 yeah I agree but paratroopers issue them with alot of equipments and many of them are heavy and can't be bearable. Stay in mind I too think the BAR is one of the best military Automatic rifles the US has ever made for the functionality it holds because you can use it an attack weapon or use it a suppressing fire weapon that's why it is the best only problem was how big it was other than that it was a great weapon.
:43 I remember in basic being taught that holding your arm and elbow like this was the quickest and best way to get yourself shot. Always tuck the elbow in if you can
I saw them on The Gallant Men. Also, I have seen the barrel attachment that allows the shooter to fire from around a corner. Changes the direction of the bullet by near 90 degrees.
1st thank you for referencing two of my favorite movies Dirty Dozen and Attack Force Z. The M3 GG is one of my favorite weapons out of WW2. If I could afford one I'd get one. The mags are a b!tch to load. A loading device is a must. Great video!!!
My dad said since you could feel the bolt move, you could fire one shot at a time. I believe there is a movie when a soldier does this. I did the same with my M60 which is how I put 97 rounds in the black grid and fired expert. You're not supposed to squeeze the trigger on an M60, but if you do, you feel the bolt move and have plenty of time to release the trigger.
In the early 80s, I trained for Close Quarter Combat using an M-3. I also had an M3 with a suppressor as well. Here's the thing, it isn't very accurate, has a fixed sight, low muzzle velocity, and to be honest an effective range of 25m. We could stand to the side of the firing line and at times see the .45 rd on it's downward trajectory as it hit the target. To make this effective weapon you had to carry a butt load of magazines. A couple of advantages ; we also carried 1911 pistols so a common cartridge and if you hit someone they knew they were hit and 95% of the time were out of the fight. They were also great at close range for punching through vehicles.
My old bosses boyfriend was an SAS major. I checked and actually was ! Anyway, he said they never taped up magazines because in the heat of the action you can forget and load an empty mag plus you should be able to re-load fast enough anyway with practise. Sounds reasonable I thought.
I am an, now, ex british paratrooper and veteran of the Falklands war and i can clearly remember in Port Stanley just a few days after the Argentinian surrender Th enormous piles of small arms of all kinds and I remember piles of those M3 smg's. There must have been several tons of FN rifles, browning hp pistols and Certainly several hundred M3's. After we got back to Aldershot I asked a friend of mine who was an ordinance corps sergeant what happened to all of those weapons and he told me they were all deep sea dumped.
Good stuff ,sir ,good Mr Bean segment, I remember being overtaken here on the Wirral by what I can only describe as a James bond badass ( I think I,m temporarily turning North American...) Aston Martin , driven by Mr Bean / Johnny English himself...nearly crashed my car in awestruck fan worship...he and the real James bond aka Daniel Craig , come to the wirral regularly....no one bothers them..as we are quietly pleased to see them in a quiet British sort of way ...keep the great posts coming..Peace and love...E
This little greaseboy, the P90, the L2 Sterling and the MP5 series are reasons why sub-machine guns in the 21st Century are still highly popular and in active use. Same shoutout goes to the Vektor Kriss and the PPSH41.
As an MP in the early 80's we had some grease guns for the SWAT team at Ft Devens. They have the advantage in urban fighting with the knockdown capability of the 45, lower potential for collateral damage from going through walls (or bad guys) and being compact for easy building clearing. They also used the same round as our issued 1911 which was convenient. They have no medium or long range application but for that the team also had M-16s and if it got really bad we had 10th special forces on the base though we would all likely be dead by the time they got authorization for that, probably of old age if mothing else. We never had an actual incident involving SWAT while I was there for all assessments of mine were in training only.
Times certainly have changed, haven't they. Army would keep weapons from WW 2 to save money. But instead of keeping the better SMG, they kept the cheapest.
Grease Guns are still used in some 3rd world countries today, I believe the Philippines still use them. The M3 due to its weight and slow rate of fire is one of the most accurate SMGs in full auto even today.
Years ago I got to fire a 1928a1 and an M3a1. The Thompson fired around 850 rpm. I had to focus to keep it down. The M3a1 rate of fire was about half that and was very controllable.
I was in a mech infantry battalion in the 70s. We had M3A1s in our recovery vehicles. They were fun to shoot, with a slow and very controllable rate of fire. I did a report of survey on one that was stolen. Production cost of that generation was $65.
Did weapons go missing a lot back then? These days they will turn a unit upside down to find a missing weapon.
L
Weapon gets lost/stolen in 1970’s: meh, it’s fine , just get a new one from the armory, no one will even notice
Weapon gets lost/stolen in 2000’s: PUT EVERY MAN IN THIS UNIT UNDER CUSTODY UNTIL WE FIND THAT GUN
@@grzegorzbrzeczyszykiewic3338 but today losing weapons can get big trouble what if a weapon gets in the wrong hands ?
It's amazing how many military guns and ammo get stolen and go unreported. Reserve units are the worst.
One thing I’ve noticed is they rarely ever get the slow cyclic rate right in the movies with the Grease gun. It’s very slow but it also makes it very controllable and accurate.
In the dirty dozen they reversed the sound effects for the MP 40 and the grease gun. You can tell because the German that kills Franco has a grease gun and it's the same sound effect for the MP 40.
You know, it's a weird thing about cyclic rates. Some firearms are better with a slow cyclic rate, others with a faster one. With each gun, you have to find the sweet spot.
The factors involved exceed the scope of this comment (unless you want a wall of text), but for my money, of all the full-auto weapons I've fired, the MP-5 SD was the walking away favorite. Probably a close second would be the Beretta 38A. The American 180 was fun as all get-out too.
I think they got it right in Dead Presidents.
I hated it. Was tank driver in 80s m60a1. Rather have Uzi
@@charleswest6372 Charles I’ve owned both a full sized class 3 UZI carbine and I still own a WW2 grease gun. The grease gun is better.
I felt like you missed out on how the grease gun was still used up into the gulf war though I can understand that information is scarce, footage and scenes in media post ww2 is also pretty low. Nice job.
You are a 100% correct. Would have loved to have made this a bit longer. I used a Vietnam clip in the open stating it served into the 21st century but had a bit of a struggle finding other good clips. The long service of this weapon speaks to its design.
It's so such a limited use that I wouldn't even include it
As a medic in the gulf war I like the grease it was easier to carry than a M16 and a whole lot easier to clean to than a M16 and in Africa fighting door to door and room to it was easier fight with do to it compact size and it would go threw walls with no problem
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq what was the Chinese communist movie scene from at the end ?
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq what is the movie at 5 23 ?
I knew an old farmer in Wisconsin who had been an Army Scout in the Phillipines in WW2.
He told me the Grease Gun was his favorite weapon because "once you got the hang of it, it was just like throwing a controlled stream of rocks- everything you pointed it at went down"....
I shudder to think of the situations he was in where he was able to put that to the test.
This comment is a tribute to him and those of his kind..gone but not forgotten.
Great quote Tristan. Never heard that before
Fun fact? It's still in service and we added suppressors and newer sights.
I think the thing about the M3 that really goes underappreciated is how long of a service life it had. While it's fairly well known that the M3 was still in service during the Korean and Vietnam wars, less well known is that they were still in US service as late as the Gulf War, long after the US had adopted more modern SMG's like the Uzi and MP5. Similar to the M1 & M2 Carbine, the M3 Grease gun was the cheap military surplus arm of choice for criminals and rebels around the world, up until the 70's and 80's when the sheer quantity of AK's flooding global arms market displaced older and less numerous weapons like the M3.
i mean i would still choce AVS decendant on the market
The M3 is actually still in service with the Philippine military. They somewhat modernized it by adding an integrated suppressor and a picatinny rail, and it is often used when seizing a ship and boarding operations
Col. Charlie Beckwith got a warehouse full of M3’s for free when he got 1st SFOD-D (Delta Force) up and running in 1977. They were superb close quarters weapons, particularly when they had a silencer attached. A skilled gunsmith could turn a run of the mill M3 into a damn fine CQB weapon. They used them well into the 80’s. If Delta thought they were worth a damn, that should be a pretty good indication of what they were really capable of.
A few M3's are still in service with the Philippine Navy but with an added picatinny rail, a red dot sight, an integral suppressor, and a modified magazine
They must be broke if they can't afford to get a modern upgrade.
@@leoperidot482 not all military got the budget of the US military
@@hoppinggnomethe4154 true.......heck some of us still use world war 2 gear and in fact the Ukraine conflict right now had some of Ukraine soldier use the weapon from the previous war or cold war.......hey it's shoot bullet and it's still deadly........sooo yeah we gonna use it.
@@leoperidot482 it still goes bang and puts holes in things. And the simplicity means it can have a long service life with minimal cost/time.
@@leoperidot482we are broke
Man sometimes I think to myself: "will this man ever run out of ideas?" So far I guess not. Keep up the amazing work
Back in the '60s, when I was a Marine, Force Recon had grease guns. We had M-14s, so we were curious about the M-3s. I never held one. One feature of them was that when the bolt was to the rear, they were ready to fire. When I joined G Co 2/2 the last input had been deployed to Guantanamo, and dug trenches and built bunkers to defend against any Cuban attempt to capture the base. One of their off-duty entertainments was to attend outdoor movies. The audience area was a concrete platform with wooden benches to sit on.
A Marine with a grease gun was in the audience, and they asked him how it worked. He took the magazine out and showed them how to pull the bolt to the rear the movie started, and without pulling the trigger, he put the magazine back in. The movie started, and everyone began paying attention to it. Suddenly a shot went off and some yelling began as people hit the deck.
The Marine with the M-3 evidently began playing with the trigger. The bolt went home and fired a round. Unfortunately for him, the muzzle was pointed at his foot. The bullet went through the foot, and due to the concrete under it ricocheted back up through it and hit the Marine on the bench in front of him in the back. Both Marines were squalling, due to their injuries, neither of which was fatal but assuredly painful.
The grease gun also had an attachment I have seen photographed in a manual, but which I can't find any mention of online. It was a grooved piece that attached to the end of the barrel. It was bent to a smooth 90 degree angle and was supposed to allow you to shoot around corners without having to expose yourself. I haven't been able to find anything online about it, but I did find this: ua-cam.com/video/brWwHKcN2kc/v-deo.html
If you were curious, I believe that grooved piece was actually for use in firing ports, like the similar piece on the MP40
German name was “Krumlauf.”
Something people forget is during the Korean War both the Communist Chinese and UN forces used the M3 Grease and Thompson sub machine guns. America gave thousands of guns to the Chinese during World War Two. The fact is the Communist Chinese had major supply chain problems because they had such a large amount of different firearms from foreign countries. American military personnel actually recovered alot of captured weapons during the Korean War and found that on average Chinese soldiers carried British Russian German Japanese and American guns that were either captured or bought during World War Two and World War One. After the Korean war China would mainly buy Soviet Union weapons.
That’s explained why this film I saw about the Chinese Civil War had lots of American kit. But also, a lot of German kit, too. They had the US semi auto rifle with the cylindrical magazine the name of which has gone right out my head. Doh!
@@geordiedog1749 oh that's the M1941 Johnson rifle. Something like 70,000 of those were made because the US Army got first M1 Garand production rifles and the US Marines were looking for new guns to replace their bolt action 1903 Springfields. So alot of Johnson rifles were used in the Pacific part of the war. The US Marines were finally all issued M1 Garands by 1943 and so alot of the stuff they didn't want went to the Chinese and Koreans fighting against the Japanese. Hence why alot of those ended up in Communist hands during the Korean war. I actually like the Johnson but it does have it's problems that made it inferior to the Garand. The loading system was finicky and you had to use two stripper clips that to fully load the gun that and it didn't do well with a bayonet attached because the barrel would moved back to cycle the action. The US Marines got second dibs on weapons because they were a smaller force compared to the standard Army.
@@geordiedog1749 the Johnson rifle.
@@darrengarcia4937 that’s it. Ta:)
@@geordiedog1749 great rifle. Marines liked it.
In Korea, my oldest brother worked with a 105 howitzer crew, being in charge of aiming that weapon. Soon after arriving in Korea, he ditched his standard issue weapon, and started carrying a grease gun. Used one throughout his entire tour.
When I was kid in the 60’s playing army with friends, we had one someone’s dad had brought back from WW2. The barrel was welded shut, but it had the cocking lever and was fully functional. I remember one playmate who buried it in his backyard to hide it. Never saw it again. Sure wish I had it now.
Too bad the father didn’t have the gun papered when he got back with it from the war. A NFA papered M3 that’s functional is now worth between $30K and $40K.
@@craigthescott5074 Time to go digging around in that playmate's backyard. 😅
In the dirty dozen, quite a few of the actors were WWII vets. We still had the M3A1s in our M60 tanks in the 1970s.
Man, I love that bit from Fury about the Grease Gun "Now you killin' - now you ain't." Fury was a good movie.
It's soooo good.
M3s and M3A1s were among the most proliferate loose firearms in post-WW2 Philippines. They saw frequent use with organized crime groups, insurgents, the Armed Forces and the Constabulary. They make frequent appearances in gangster films made here
Times have changed. Now it's he AK or the M4 variants.
I was A Field Radio Operator in Charley Co, 4th Recon, 4th MarDiv---we qualified annually on the old M-1, but our principal T.O . Weapon was the M-3.....That Stock was also a tool to remove the Barrel and slide the Heavy Bolt out....slow firing rate but a great little MG...gl
Why do you type like this
@@brickofwar9727 slow firing rate
Thanks. I was trained to service the M3 and M3A1 in 1984 at Fort Riley during their Unit Armorer Course, and then in the 1990's my arms room had 70 of them for an anti-terrorist security contract.
I was an armorer in New Jersey National Guard in the 90s and we had three of them as well in our vault. Everyone always asked me for it because it was different and of course I always chose it for our summer training for the same reasons
What’s an ‘anti terrorist security contract’? Or is it just exactly it sounds?
@@geordiedog1749 "Counter-terrorism" is running the jackals down and kicking in the doors of their lairs. "Anti-terrorism" is taking reactive and preventative measures that includes fencing, ID checks, lights, and can include armed response forces. Everybody is an antiterrorist more or less--it's boring, mundane, but vigilant to specific activities. Armed escort of people and supplies, manning checkpoints, searching vehicles for bombs, searching persons for weapons, basically expecting trouble--I made it sound more exciting that the reality. The reality was that by expending resources the ante was raised and "one or two" hostile actors would accomplish little--they'd need a coordinated attack by a squad-sized element of commando-trained people to do significant damage. Or the "managers" of the compound would have to make things easy for terrorist attackers by ignoring security breaches, by circumventing the security procedures, and otherwise acting like Very Important People (rules are for others)...
@@alancranford3398 Ah. Thank for that excellent explanation. We used to break security down into ‘physical’ ‘procedural’ and ‘relational’ which concurs pretty much with what you’re saying. Cheers.
They were popular in Vietnam as most contact was literal throwing distance where .45 ACP rounds from an automatic were very effective. It was so simple it was super reliable in the unforgiving jungle.
It is wild after all these years starting to not only know but understand what guns I was seeing in all of these movies growing up.
An aspect of Enlisted that I am enjoying, it bringing more enjoyment to your productions. Thanks!
The one I saw during my time in Vietnam, at a firing range, jammed repeatedly. By then it probably was just worn out. My 45 pistol was also old, it rattled like a loose bag of parts. As he said, they were not designed for assault troops.
My granddad talked about how much he hated the 1911s they trained with before going to Vietnam being worn down and basically smoothbore- having only done cowboy action shooting before enlisting, he also disliked the pistol grips of m16's, but once told me they were better for "real fights"
Sometime ago, in the 90's he bought an m1 carbine and loved it, saying he wished he got to carry one in Vietnam.
In the 80s and early 90s my unit's issued weapon was the 45. Talk about loose, old and worn out pistol, but still fun to fire on the range.
@@blackwoodsecurity531 My Dad was a WWII instructor in the 1911 & shot Expert in several different weapons despite never handling a gun prior to the draft. He said they were very accurate and easy to shoot. I am sure they were brand new.
With such a simple design i'd bet it could be fixed by simply replacing the spring
Ahaha, the use of that Mr Bean clip was pure gold. Little clips like that are what really makes this channel unique and entertaining.
My info is a little generic so I at least try to give people a chuckle here and there :)
Lee Marvin (The Dirty Dozen / 1967 ) was a true WW2 veteran. Mr Marvin has fought on Saipan with the US Marines. Great video!
I used an M3 as a US armor crewman in the 1980s. The scene from Fury is spot on, open the cover, stick your finger in the detent on the bolt pull back and rock and roll. The BoB scene really captures the sound and slow rof. Likely too many movies got that wrong and much too fast. It was a blast to fire and very simple to maintain - as you said a trait very much appreciated by the users! The slower rof is really beneficial in keeping the weapon on target. We were trained to fire in short 3 round bursts - common I know but with the M3 it was easy to do!
Love hearing from people with experience with the weapon. Thanks so much for leaving your thoughts.
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq I used them as well and I concur with everything that Eric Boyle says. The extendable stock was also used as a tool to remove the barrel iirc. Simple safety, if bolt is back just close the cover. There was a "pin" on the underside of the cover that closed into the detent on the bolt and didn't allow it to go forward, and fire, if the cover was closed.
@@dartmaster501 Thanks for adding some info as well Naughtious Maximus. Perhaps you know my friend. Bigus Dickus?
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq Yes and his wife, Incontinencia Buttocks.
You left out Steve McQeen in Hell is for Heroes. Great use of M3
U r so rite..this was a major error on his part, Steve is constantly going safe/off safe and displaying the gun.
some pretty good M3 action in Dr Strangelove, too
Fact: The Grease Gun was still in use during the Gulf War were US Tank Crews Still used them while other Units are now using the M16A2 but probably some units are still using the Grease Gun but the M3A1 model is the one that they used
I think they are using the M4
Our mechanics were still issued them when I was in the Army 89-96.
@@Autobotmatt428 nah some are still using M16A2
@@Autobotmatt428 the M4 was adopted in 1994 it would be better if they used the Colt 727 or the 723 because it was around that timeline
@@emmanuelperez8094 I carried an M4 around 94 and 95 while I as in the Army.
My Great Grandfather was a WWII vet. He was in the 101st Airborne, which is featured a few times in this video (Look at the soldier's left shoulders with the Eagle on them). He saw action in Sicily (before he was transferred to the 101st from the 82nd), D-Day, Market Garden, The Battle of The Bulge, and then in Germany. He was a Sergeant. He used the m3 laer inthe war, but before the m3 he used an M1903 Springfield (yes he was a siniper, if you were wondering).
I carried one back in 1992 as a scout, was a M3A1 we had six in our platoon. Still had the 1911’s also but a year later we turned them in to be de-milled, but I kept the mags and the pouches for them and still got em too.
Attack force Z! One of my all time favorite movies! I remember watching it when I was a kid when it came out in 1981 on this new invention, CABLE and got HBO for a month free. I loved that silenced M3.
I think we still had ON tv...
An old buddy of mine had been a Navy smalls arms armorer in the Vietnam War and served on Riverine boats. They had a M3A1 onboard, but one of his crew mates did not like the slow rate of fire, so he shortened the dual recoil springs in an effort to speed it up. Maybe he'd seen "The Dirty Dozen" and thought the idea was sound. The gun did fire much faster, but the resulting pounding of the massive bolt against the rear of the receiver caused a split along the welded rear seam. In the finest traditions of the Navy, my friend wrapped the end of the receiver with bailing wire and his crew mate continued to happily use it.
This is actually the longest serving SMG in US history. The first ones in the first batch had receiver and barrel not matching up properly. That's why the first American units to see combat in European theatre in overlord, didn’t have much of them.
They were hot favourite among OSS and Vietminh as a weapon for ambushing Japanese patrols
I learned to handle full auto fire on a grease gun. It's hard to mess up and slow enough to maintain, I can see why a lot of troopers back then trusted the simplicity of everything going into war.
My brother in law was in Nam 67-68, came home before Tet. He was an engineer, and built roads. Admitted he had no combat experience, but said the best day he had was they had to burn up a bunch of ammo, .556, .308, and .45 acp! Said we will never get done going thru pistols, he said the Grease gun was a blast and they had a lot of fun burning up Uncle Sam's money! As ordered!
Taxpayers money.
The Dirty Dozen is definitely the first movie that comes to mind when I think of the M3.
I read a comment from a Bradley crewman from the '80s about how they put a stronger spring in the grease gun and upped the firerate to a tremendous degree.
Maybe a weaker spring? I'm not an expert but that sounds more logical?
@@dougerrohmer Something like that.
stronger spring. The springs were often weak in the 1970s. You could take one to the range and notice a change in the rate of fire if you aimed high (slower) or low (faster) The heavy bolt was going back regardless, you needed a strong spring to capture that energy and return to bolt with vigor.
I'd take that story with a grain of salt, as the M3 actually has 2 recoil springs, one on each of the 2 bolt guide rods.
New springs might increase the rate some, but nothing really "tremendous".
@@chrisperrien7055 Having 10 M3A1s in my platoon, I have fired it, loaded it and cleaned them many times. In my first range experience at Ft Knox our instructors pointed the firing rate issue out on the range and all of us new 2Lts had fun demonstrating it. By the 70s, the guns were well worn including the springs.
I would have thought Z force, being Aussies, would have Owens SMG's instead of Stens and instead of M3's. The Owens was ugly, but, was the most reliable SMG of the war under the most harsh jungle conditions. and well liked by the troops.
I think they were using AuStens (Australian Stens) with suppressors but I can't say forsure as the Owen was a superior weapon for sure.
There were so many different types of SOE units during WW 2. Everyone had their own preference. I'm sure SOE had their weapons tricked out like most SF units do. Owen SMG were featured in;
THE BATTLE OF LONG TAN.
THE COWRA BREAKOUT.
KOKODA.
THE RAILWAY MAN.
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq The Owens SMG had a rather odd history, while it was cheaper to make than the AuStens and proven to be more rugged and accurate than the Sten and Thompson SMG that army kept flip flopping on what caliber they wanted it in, first it was .45, then 380 webley i think, then 9mm para and then back to .45 before the Australian government stepped in and basically said "Ok enough fucking about, you'll use 9mm para and that's THAT"...All because they chose to ignore an SMG that they thought was just a kids hobby project and didn't want to even really LOOK at the thing in the first place but hey, when has any branch of the military been smart enough to see something and go "This has a lot of potential and could be cheaper for us to have manufactured by us and not have to pay an arm and a leg in cash for weapons to be shipped here?"
Z Unit did use Owen's that were available from when the force was formed in 1942 and manufactured in significant numbers at the Lysaght factories at Port Kembla and Newcastle. They were far more reliable than the Sten, Thompson or Grease gun in jungle conditions, there is contemporaneous wartime test footage of them being completely immersed in mud and still firing, when the Sten and Thompson failed.
ua-cam.com/video/mTc2fXqWD5I/v-deo.html
The Owen was still being used by Australian troops 20 years later in Vietnam.
To my knowledge the Grease Gun was never issued to Australian forces.
The first time I recall seeing this weapon was in the hands of Steve McQueen in 'Hell is for Heroes'. Also the first time seeing someone with stacked magazines (three in his case)
My father, a gun guy and WWII soldier, told me that the grease gun was more accurate than the Thompson.
It was more accurate because it was more controllable. I own both and he’s right.
definitely my favorite gun of ww2 ,
distinct sound , controllable recoil cheap. and i like the way it looks.
This video came out so fast, thanks for the great content! Hats off to you
My dad used a M3a1 bushmaster when he was in Vietnam. Got him through a lot of tough and dangerous night patrols. He bought it from the army when his 20 years was up. Shot it every Sunday after church. Even buried it with him. Ol Besty. God, what a gun
Awesome video!!! IF memory serves me correctly, the M3 Grease Gun was phased out entirely in US Army sometime early 1990s. Can remember seeing them in use up to around 1993 time-frame, or just a little after. They were primarily for armored vehicle crew members and I can remember wanting one of those weapons instead of humping the M16A2 all over the place - plus the grease gun just looked cool!!. Did get to shoot one a few times at a qualification range and it was fun
Truly probably in the top 5 in terms of firearms in history that shows how you can get a ton of shade thrown on it solely based not only on how it looks but also how it looks in comparison to what it replaced, with the Thompson being such a beautiful firearm to look at vs. the Grease Gun! I think most soldiers would choose a Thompson if they were getting their picture taken by Robert Sargent but then would put it down and pick up the Grease Gun for combat! But, hey, at least it has a cool name: Grease Gun!
The grease gun was standard issue on my tank (the m60A3) in the mid 1980's in place of the M16 rifle; I think because the M3 was smaller and took up less space in the tank. I loved firing it. It always reminded me of spraying water out of a hose.
I joined the national guard in the late 90s and the grease gun was just being phased out. I always thought it looked like a junk toy.
My brother used a grease gun in Vietnam.He said .45 caliber bullets were everywhere and easier to carry a lot more as opposed to the 5.56.He served with the 1st Armored Cav.,1970-71,Bien Hoa. Start firing lower left and walk the rounds diagonally through the target area.
I can see why Ike hated the Battle of the Bulge film of 1965
My grandpa-in-law said he used this gun for a while he was in the 101st Airborne in Korea. He said the rate of fire would slow down as the recoil made the gun climb. I've always found that little tidbit pretty funny about it.
i know the grease gun was more cheap to manufacture than the thompson as well as being lighter, but if i had a choice to carry either a grease gun or a thompson into battle, than i'd take the thompson.
while in an armored cav unit i8n 'Nam, I found one dirty and abandoned on the floor of one of our combat-loss M48 tanks that was in the motorpool. So I spent the day cleaning it and oiling it down. When I finally got to fire it, no wonder it was not used. Slow, very slow firing. I liked my m16 better, much better. I tossed it back in the unused tank. A .45cal 1911 I was issued later by a friend in supply was not much better. Ever thing was loose and made the pistol inaccurate. We could have used an armorer in our unit but we didn't have one.
I came in the US Army in 1978 and carried an M3A1 quite a bit until 1980. I liked it quite a bit. It was easy to keep clean and easier to shoot.
I was a tanker in Desert storm. We had them in our tanks ...fun. Makes a grest sound
so glad I came across your channel. Learned a lot of new things!
Right on. Thanks for the support
another great video mate
I remember in the tv show tour of duty they do sog missions in season 3 and one of the squad members used a grease gun.
Another great video and commentary. You know your stuff, bro'. And the comments?!? Love them.
Thanks man! I wouldn't say I offer too much original knowledge I just try to make it a fun way to learn some basics.
_I love how you make your Videos you get some fun_ *history* _some_ *movies* _some_ *guns* _just amazing Bravo_
Thanks so much. I mostly give just the basics so I like to at least make people laugh too.
Always one of my faves for CQB, especially with the suppressor.
The low cyclic rate made it easy to get off singles or doubles.
As the Philippine Marines found, plenty of room on top to weld a P rail for a red dot which would have made it even better.
Great vid!
Still used by the Army into the 70's when I served. They were still issued to mechanics, jeep drivers(they also had M1911 45s), and some in transportation truck drivers.
Also the 'Red Eye' (anti arcraft missle) platoon
In my Infantry company carried them.
@1:19 to @1:39 is brilliant comedic juxtaposition editing.
My Old Man used the M-3 in the USAF from '50 to '54 to guard the recently developed jet aircraft technology.
We used them along with the 1911, when I was a tank driver/gunner in the mid 1980s, both used the same amo.
I *clearly* remember handling M3s during arms-room inventories, back in the early Nineties. Note that this was in a fairly high-speed Big Army mech unit.
3:49 I like how the German marshal also speaks with a mid Atlantic accent
During the Vietnam War the US Coast Guard had LORAN stations in Thailand and Vietnam to assist in aircraft and shipboard navigation. The LORAN stations in Vietnam were armed with M3 Grease Guns. I never got a chance to shoot one, but the guys that did report that they were easy to shoot and control as opposed to an M-16 in full auto. Our 82' patrol boats in Vietnam also had Tommy guns. The boat I was on had them, but I never got an opportunity to shoot one.
Ahh the grease gun. We do not see it a lot but its so under rated.
I
While at Fort Riley in 1980, I saw a loader climb out of a M60 Battle Tank with one. It was bad ass.
Yeah you mentioned the Paratroopers appreciated it will for many reasons because its small compact design and we shouldn't forget that Paratroopers before landing holded to many equipments so like the M1a1 carbine which came with fold ending the M1a3 Grasegun was small and practical and could be easily put behind the Back unlike the BAR or even the Thompson.
Excellent additional info! Thanks for adding it.
True but my grandfather who was in WWII said he sure liked the BAR for its support.
@@gravitatemortuus1080 yeah I agree but paratroopers issue them with alot of equipments and many of them are heavy and can't be bearable.
Stay in mind I too think the BAR is one of the best military Automatic rifles the US has ever made for the functionality it holds because you can use it an attack weapon or use it a suppressing fire weapon that's why it is the best only problem was how big it was other than that it was a great weapon.
I'll always remenber Steve McQueen in "Hell for Heros" using a M3.
Switch out the M3 springs and replace them with Thompson springs. That will increase the rate of fire to over 500 rpms
It's a very simple yet effective smg
:43
I remember in basic being taught that holding your arm and elbow like this was the quickest and best way to get yourself shot.
Always tuck the elbow in if you can
I saw them on The Gallant Men. Also, I have seen the barrel attachment that allows the shooter to fire from around a corner. Changes the direction of the bullet by near 90 degrees.
1st thank you for referencing two of my favorite movies Dirty Dozen and Attack Force Z.
The M3 GG is one of my favorite weapons out of WW2. If I could afford one I'd get one. The mags are a b!tch to load. A loading device is a must.
Great video!!!
My dad said since you could feel the bolt move, you could fire one shot at a time. I believe there is a movie when a soldier does this. I did the same with my M60 which is how I put 97 rounds in the black grid and fired expert. You're not supposed to squeeze the trigger on an M60, but if you do, you feel the bolt move and have plenty of time to release the trigger.
Apparently Johnny is Canadian. His pronunciation of Z is Zed
In the early 80s, I trained for Close Quarter Combat using an M-3. I also had an M3 with a suppressor as well. Here's the thing, it isn't very accurate, has a fixed sight, low muzzle velocity, and to be honest an effective range of 25m. We could stand to the side of the firing line and at times see the .45 rd on it's downward trajectory as it hit the target. To make this effective weapon you had to carry a butt load of magazines. A couple of advantages ; we also carried 1911 pistols so a common cartridge and if you hit someone they knew they were hit and 95% of the time were out of the fight. They were also great at close range for punching through vehicles.
I'm Australian (so I also know how to pronounce the letter Z), but I have never heard of Attack Force Z. Thanks for the recommendation!
Well worth a watch my Aussie friend.
Not a bad show at all, mate. Saw it back in the 80's.
The M3 is so cheap and easy to reproduce in the home shop. A lot of fun to shoot too!
Thank you for putting the movie names in the corner of the video.
The cockpit is a good anime tho, thanks for mention it in the vid, i will go watch it again
Steve McQueen also used M3 grease gun in "Hell is for heroes"
I know. This video needs a remake to do Steve justice.
Aw Man! I was hoping to see Steve McQueen from Hell is for Heroes with his Grease Gun and 3 taped up magazines for quick reloads
Damn that was a miss on my part =/
My old bosses boyfriend was an SAS major. I checked and actually was ! Anyway, he said they never taped up magazines because in the heat of the action you can forget and load an empty mag plus you should be able to re-load fast enough anyway with practise. Sounds reasonable I thought.
I am an, now, ex british paratrooper and veteran of the Falklands war and i can clearly remember in Port Stanley just a few days after the Argentinian surrender
Th enormous piles of small arms of all kinds and I remember piles of those M3 smg's. There must have been several tons of FN rifles, browning hp pistols and
Certainly several hundred M3's. After we got back to Aldershot I asked a friend of mine who was an ordinance corps sergeant what happened to all of those weapons and he told me they were all deep sea dumped.
interesting to hear, is there a chance that instead of m3's those guns were argentina produced PAM's?
The M3s and Browing HPs were just DUMPED into the South Atlantic? Excuse me, I need to go off and have a good cry...
Had Mattel version as kid. Loved it. Readon they often don't cycle realistically in movies are the blanks
I particularly liked where he swept swept his buddy twice the the grease gun at 4:38.
Good stuff ,sir ,good Mr Bean segment, I remember being overtaken here on the Wirral by what I can only describe as a James bond badass ( I think I,m temporarily turning North American...) Aston Martin , driven by Mr Bean / Johnny English himself...nearly crashed my car in awestruck fan worship...he and the real James bond aka Daniel Craig , come to the wirral regularly....no one bothers them..as we are quietly pleased to see them in a quiet British sort of way ...keep the great posts coming..Peace and love...E
This little greaseboy, the P90, the L2 Sterling and the MP5 series are reasons why sub-machine guns in the 21st Century are still highly popular and in active use. Same shoutout goes to the Vektor Kriss and the PPSH41.
Well done. Learned something new.
Glad to see Dead Presidents getting some love
Had an A1 in Nam. Absolutely loved that thing.
Nice simple Weapon! Thank you Johnny
What a great weapon and used for decades. My favorite military SMG.
We love it Johnny!
There’s a scene in ‘The Eagle Has Landed’ where an Army Ranger Is seen using a M3 "Grease Gun" during the assault on the church.
And for some reason most the rest had M2 carbines which wouldn't have existed at the time.
As an MP in the early 80's we had some grease guns for the SWAT team at Ft Devens. They have the advantage in urban fighting with the knockdown capability of the 45, lower potential for collateral damage from going through walls (or bad guys) and being compact for easy building clearing. They also used the same round as our issued 1911 which was convenient. They have no medium or long range application but for that the team also had M-16s and if it got really bad we had 10th special forces on the base though we would all likely be dead by the time they got authorization for that, probably of old age if mothing else. We never had an actual incident involving SWAT while I was there for all assessments of mine were in training only.
Times certainly have changed, haven't they. Army would keep weapons from WW 2 to save money. But instead of keeping the better SMG, they kept the cheapest.
If it weren't for this video I wouldn't have ever known The Cockpit existed. Everyone watch it, it's fucking awesome.
Grease Guns are still used in some 3rd world countries today, I believe the Philippines still use them. The M3 due to its weight and slow rate of fire is one of the most accurate SMGs in full auto even today.
this is one of the coolest guns in history imo, simple, cheap/easy to manufacture and highly effective
Years ago I got to fire a 1928a1 and an M3a1. The Thompson fired around 850 rpm. I had to focus to keep it down. The M3a1 rate of fire was about half that and was very controllable.
Always look forward to your videos dude!
Thanks so much 🙏
Served in the 80’s our CEV crews (Combat Engineer Vehicle) had them and 1911’s
my uncle was a udt guy in vietnam he said fot their missions there was nothing like a supressed m3....and dont forget hell is for heroes