M3A1 Grease Gun

[MillRatUSMC]

http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/images/m3sub.jpg
M3A1 Grease Gun with 30 Round Magazine.

http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/grease.htm

The following additional information is courtesy of Bob Caulkins

"I carried a grease gun in Vietnam while I served with the First Marine Division (66-68). There are a several of neat things about the gun that don't appear in the description and I'd like to tell you about them. The gun had a built-in oiler in the base of the grip. After turning the gun over, the knob seen in the illustration is unscrewed revealing an oil reservoir and an oil applicator. The wire stock was a masterpiece of American ingenuity. It was a wrench for removing the barrel, the barrel had two grooves machined into it into which the wire stock was placed and then turned to loosen the barrel. One of the stock rods was threaded at the forward end to take a bore brush and drilled out to take a cleaning patch, and finally, there was a small "L" shaped piece of steel welded to the butt of the stock, as seen in the illustration, that functioned as a magazine loader. Trying to thumb load 30 rounds into the mag was a chore. This twenty-eight dollar, or so, piece of stamped, welded and machined metal was a beauty, on the several occasions when I needed it, it never failed me. "

My note;
"I carried a grease gun and thirteen magazines.
When I was in 1st Recon during the "Missiles of October" 1962.
Those magazines with 27-28 rounds would have cause many a Marine to drown, carrying all that weight.
It was a joy to fire, but it's maximum range was about 25 yards.
Good for close combat, but it's limit in range might be the reason.
It's no long used by the military.

http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/images/chingres.jpg
Type 36 Submachine Gun caliber .45 Chinese-made copy of the M3A1...

Semper Fi
Ricardo

PS Up to now, it's never been on "Mail Call".
Might E-Mail the Gunny with a question on the M3A1 Grease Gun.

[Sgt Sostand]

nice

[Sparrowhawk]

Heard it fired in combat a few times, but mostly it was the gooks that were firing them at us....

[dibob]

I am the Bob Caulkins of the above article on the M3A1 Greasegun. The maximum range of the of the M3A1 is the maximum range of the bullet. The maximum EFFECTIVE range of the M3A1 is 50 meters. This of course depends on the shooter. But, bench rested, the gun will put all the rounds in a bull at 50 meters. The muzzle velocity of the M3A1, 920 FPS, is the same as the US .45 caliber pistol, the Thompson, and the old Reising gun, which was also .45 caliber. Since I did not store ammo in the magazines, when I went on an operation, I loaded 30 rounds into the mags and never had a stoppage. The cyclic rate of fire for the M3A1 is about 450 rounds per minute, the Thompson was 900 RPM.