World War II–era Guide Lamp M3 submachine gun with 30-round magazine and other accessories. The Buffalo Arms bolt in this original M3 is dated January 1944.
Type
Submachine gun
Place of origin
United States
Service history
In service
1943–present
Used by
See Users
Wars
World War II[1]
Chinese Civil War
Greek Civil War[2]
Indonesian National Revolution
First Indochina War[3]
Korean War[1]
Cuban Revolution
Algerian War
Bay of Pigs Invasion[4]
Vietnam War[1]
The Troubles
Laotian Civil War
Malayan Emergency
Sino-Indian War
Communist insurgency in Malaysia (1968–1989)
Papua Conflict
Rhodesian Bush War
Cambodian Civil War
Turkish invasion of Cyprus[5]
Shaba II[6]
Cambodian–Vietnamese War
Sino-Vietnamese War
Salvadoran Civil War
Argentine Dirty War
Falklands War[7]
Soviet–Afghan War
Iran–Iraq War[8]
Persian Gulf War[9]
Moro conflict
Burundi Civil War
Kosovo War
First Ambon riots[10]
War in Afghanistan
Iraq War[citation needed]
Syrian Civil War
[citation needed]
Production history
Designer
George Hyde
Designed
1942
Manufacturer
General Motors, others
Unit cost
Approx. US$15 (1943; equivalent to $264 in 2023)[11]
Produced
1943–1945 early 1950s
No. built
Total: 655,363
M3: 606,694
M3A1: 48,669
Variants
M3A1
PAM1
PAM2
T29
Specifications
Mass
M3 (empty): 8.15 lb (3.70 kg)
M3A1 (empty): 7.95 lb (3.61 kg)
Length
29.1 in (740 mm) stock extended / 21.9 in (556.3 mm) stock collapsed
Barrel length
8 in (203.2 mm)
Cartridge
.45 ACP (11.43×23 mm)
9×19mm Parabellum
.30 Carbine (7.62x33mm)
Action
Blowback, open bolt
Rate of fire
450 rounds/min cyclic (= 7½ / second)
Muzzle velocity
900 ft/s (274 m/s)
Effective firing range
Sights fixed to 100 yards (91 m)[12]
Feed system
30-round detachable box or 32-round detachable box magazine
Sights
Fixed rear peep sight and blade foresight, calibrated to 100 yards for caliber .45 M1911 ball ammunition[12]
The M3 is an American .45-caliber submachine gun adopted by the U.S. Army on 12 December 1942, as the United States Submachine Gun, Cal. .45, M3.[12] The M3 was chambered for the same .45 ACP round fired by the Thompson submachine gun, but was cheaper to mass produce and lighter, at the expense of accuracy.[12] The M3 was commonly referred to as the "Grease Gun" or simply "the Greaser," owing to its visual similarity to the mechanic's tool.[13]
The M3 was intended as a replacement for the Thompson, and began to enter frontline service in mid-1944. The M3A1 variant was used in the Korean War and later conflicts.
The M14 rifle, adopted in 1959, was intended to replace the M3A1 (as well as the M1 Garand, M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle and the M1 carbine)[14] but the recoil of the M14's 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge proved too powerful for the submachine gun role. The M14 was in turn replaced by the M16 rifle in 1964, and this weapon (firing the intermediate 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge) was a better replacement for the M3A1. M3A1 submachine guns were retired from U.S. frontline service after 1959, but continued to be issued, for example as backup weapons for armored vehicle crews as late as the Gulf War (1990-1991). Many overseas US military bases continued to issue these for certain crews into the mid to late 1990s.[citation needed]
^ abcCite error: The named reference bishop1998 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference Sazanidis was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference M3G was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^de Quesada, Alejandro (10 Jan 2009). The Bay of Pigs: Cuba 1961. Elite 166. Osprey Publishing. pp. 60–61. ISBN 978-1-84603-323-0.
^McNab, Chris (2002). 20th Century Military Uniforms (2nd ed.). Kent: Grange Books. p. 212. ISBN 978-1-84013-476-6.
^Sicard, Jacques (November 1982). "Les armes de Kolwezi". La Gazette des armes (in French). No. 111. pp. 25–30. Archived from the original on July 12, 2023.
^David Carter, James Paul & Martin Spirit. "Argentina: Land Weapons and Vehicles". Britain's Small Wars. Archived from the original on 2009-02-01. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
^"WWII weapons in the Ayatollah's Iran". wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com. 16 October 2016.
^Leroy Thompson (2011). The Colt 1911 Pistol. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-84908-433-8.
^"Organic Weapons Made in America From the Ambon Conflict Handed Over by Citizens to the TNI". kompas.com (in Indonesian). 29 March 2019. Archived from the original on July 6, 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
^Carter, Gregg Lee: Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law, page 588. ABC-CLIO, 2002.
^ abcdIannamico, Frank, The U.S. M3-3A1 Submachine Gun, Moose Lake Publishing, ISBN 0-9701954-4-3, ISBN 978-0-9701954-4-9 (1999), pp. 14, 22–24, 34–39, 44–46, 54–55, 59–63, 67, 73–74
^Ingram, Mike: The MP40 Submachine Gun, p. 85. Zenith Imprint, 2001.
^Thompson, Leroy (2014). The M14 Battle Rifle. Weapon 37. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781472802552, p. 12
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