Good Ole' M3 Grease Gun, .45 ACP full auto

[horge]

http://mabma.thereeftank.com/postpics/m3.jpg

I came across some interesting AFP info at timawa.net

In need of a compact boarding weapon (and/or a PDW for land armor crews),
AND apparently put off by the high cost/time delays in buying H&K MP5's, or even the local Floro 9mm Subguns, the Philippine Navy (PN) and Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) have turned to refurbishing and upgrading some mothballed M3 and M3A1 .45 ACP SMG's.

A version equipped with sound suppresor passed tests with flying colors last May (2004) at Fort Boni. Naval Station:
http://mabma.thereeftank.com/postpics/m3test.jpg
These suppressor-equipped versions are for the Marines' Special Operations Platoon. The subsonic rounds make the suppression worth it for SOps. The 350-450 rpm ROF allows quick trigger fingers to let off single shots from this ostensibly full-auto only firearm, and increases controllability.

Supposedly, the cost of reconditioning, upgrading and reissuing around 40 of these old warhorses is still less than the procurement cost of a single H&K UMP (a modern .45 ACP subgun).

Lacking cash or support from the powers that be,
the men and women of the Navy and the Marines get my heartfelt salute.


The full article is here (http://www.timawa.net/m3/m3.htm), citing info graciously provided by MBLT6/N11, Philippine Navy (Marines).

:)

[Eye Cutter]

horge: I was able to shoot one of PBD's collection of M3 Grease Guns at the range.

those things are terribly heavy mothers to lug around, but even on full auto fire (wala naman single shot ang M3), the grease guns are very, very controllable with no muzzle rise at all. i was able to place all the 20 .45 cal slugs on the board out to 15 meters!

Placing a suppressor to an already very heavy machine pistol may not be ideal but it surely is better than not having one to use at all.

[Tennessee Slim]

Forty refurbished M3s for the cost of one H&K UMP? And for a ‘boarding weapon’? Sounds like a no-brainer to me.

My guard unit back in college had M3s. Fun to play with, reliable, simple to maintain. Full-auto only. It has ...like ...no moving parts. There’s not even a safety. It fires from the open bolt and when you close the dust cover a tab on it engages a hole in the bolt, locking it to rear. Close the dust cover, safe. Open the dust cover, Rock & Roll. The ultimate spray and pray sub.

[horge]

Doc Alvin:
10.5 lbs, tefloned and loaded, with suppressor, is how I hear it.
That's nearly three times the weight of the UMP, but hey, if our Marines and Navy boys can shoot straight with it, and not suffer malfs, it's all gold (yet another heavy commodity, hehe). I envy you your having tried them --I merely read somewhere that a quick trigger tap-and-release could accomplish a one-off shot.
:)


Tennessee Slim:
Thanks for the info on its features!
:)

[jasonub]

i was one of those who had a chance to shoot these supressed grease guns. The good col., asked what i thought of it since he was planning to reissue the subgun for specops.

Before that, there was no supressor and we had a heyday shooting ball ammo on those unsupressed smgs.

When the supressed version came, I shot it and it had a noisy bolt (open bolt system) but so far accuracy was ok for the intention. I can hit the 50M poppers with that smg. It was ugly but usable. This was a couple of months ago.

There is one for sale at buy andsell right now but i dont think it came from the batch that the col had supressed. Probably it was stolen and sold to a civilan

;g

[horge]

Lucky you, Jason...
I know you already said it can shoot well enough, but
was the weapon weight/balance any cause for concern?

Did the refurbished specimens strike you as work-reliable?
Thanks.

[jasonub]

oh balance. I never did bother but ill see if i can borrow it this weekend if i wont shoot at the pnpa match and see where the balance is.

i was too busy on the front sight to notice anything but the sound and the fall of the bolt. ( i was not using earmuffs btw):cool:

[CarlosDJackal]

When I was still assigned to a US Army Armor Battalion back in 1984-1985, our tankers still had the M3A1s. I don't see anything wrong with using these refurbished and supressed guns if they are reliable (and they should be).

As much as I like the MP-5s for their controlability and reliability, I'll take 10 Grease Guns or Sten Guns (9mm) on hand over one MP-5 on order every time.

Sige!!