When America entered World War II, the standard U.S. military submachine gun was the famous Thompson M1928A1. The downside of the Thompson Submachine Gun—the Tommy gun—was that it was heavy, hard to produce and expensive to produce. Thus, the Army requested a new submachine gun to replace it. The new variant, known as the M3 Grease Gun, offered low cost, could be produced quickly and was simple. However, it still wasn't simple enough and was made even simpler with the introduction of the M3A1. The crank handle on the M3 was taken off and replaced with a finger hole on the side of the bolt for the M3A1, creating less problems for soldiers during combat. The M3A1 saw service during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and even up until Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s. For more on the U.S. M3A1 Grease Gun, watch this "I Have This Old Gun" segment from a recent episode of American Rifleman TV.
Join American Rifleman staff in this week's video to learn about a new version of the famed Beretta 92, a line extension that offers up single-action-only operation, optic-ready capability and more.
The Model 5946 duty pistol faithfully served police forces nationwide until it was pulled from production just before the turn of the millennium. Now, lots of these trade-in duty guns are available to commercial sales through distributors such as Aim Surplus, LLC.
From its Range Development and Operations Online Course to Range Conferences, the National Rifle Association is leading the charge to educate potential and current range owners and operators with range development information, environmental issues, safety and more.
Colt is the brand that's traditionally associated with the M1911, and in this Rifleman Review, we look at how they're paying homage to the classic design with the Gold Cup National Match model.