“Tag: M3”

Learn about the World War II field modification that put damaged Grease Guns back in service.

Most are not surprised that General Motors Corp. turned out trucks and other types of vehicles during World War II, but many are not aware that GM was also a major supplier of firearms to the “Arsenal of Democracy.”

Whether dropped deep behind enemy lines or fighting as conventional infantry, American airborne troopers during World War II trusted their lives to their rifles, pistols, submachine guns and automatic rifles.

Dismissed as ugly ducklings when compared to the finely made Thompsons they replaced, the stamped and welded M3 and M3A1 “grease guns” performed very well and served several generations of American soldiers with distinction.

As we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, we look back at the infantry arms-both well known and forgotten-used on this pivotal "Day of Days" in American history. (Photos courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration/U.S. Army Signal Corps)

The Thompson, while excellent, was expensive and time-consuming to make. So, faced with a pressing need for more submachine guns, the U.S. Army adopted the M3 “Grease Gun”—but before that, there was the little-known M2.

Magpul Industries Corp. has been awarded a $12,792,000 firm-fixed-price, definite-quantity contract for the company’s GEN M3 PMAG magazines.

Seventy-five years ago, Allied troops invaded Hitler’s “Fortress Europe” to bring an end to Nazi tyranny, and many of them arrived by parachute or glider. They were the men of the British and American airborne, and they were well-armed indeed.

The American Rifleman staff had an early and up- close look at the then-new M3 submachine gun. Not long thereafter, the “Grease Gun” would make its combat debut with the American Airborne in Normandy.