M14 Forum

B 2/75 · April 5th, 2011, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CCKen

Here'a a pic of an M3A1 I had while in VN.

I bought it off a Grunt that was rotating for $20.00. Came with two magazines. The Army gave me all the .45 I wanted. The ammo dump at Lai Khe had cases of that stuff.

I shot it several times at the Lai Khe perimeter, near the jungle school. The barrel would climb uncontrollably, even in short bursts. It was fun to shoot. Used to keep it with me when I drove my Jeep back and forth from the hootch to the flight line.

I sold it for $20.00 when I rotated back to the Big BX.

I'm surprised that you found the muzzle uncontrollable. I had occasion to shoot an M3 quite frequently, along with a pretty sweet M1928A1 when I was a young pup in the 2nd Ranger BN. I found the Thompson's high rate of fire made the muzzle whip pretty pronounced, despite the compensator it had. The Grease Gun, on the other hand, was very smooth and steady due to the much lower cyclic rate of fire. Neither had any particularly bad feed problems, and FTF / FTE was essentially a non-event.

I never did like the ergonomics of the Thompson's pistol grip with the very close proximity of the stock to the back of your firing hand, while I never did like the Grease Gun's propensity for taking amazing amounts of rust unless your treated it better than your girlfriend!

Both are great, but given the choice I'd take the M3.

jismail · August 19th, 2011, 04:06 PM

I was issued one in 1979-81 while in Germany in the 2AD 2/50 MechInf. As a track vehicle mechanic driving M113's I started out with a standard M-16 but when I was moved to recovery and given a M-578 VTR for my primary ride, they gave me the M3 as part of the switch. Never had to officially 'qualify' with it, only had to spend the minimum time on the range with it like most others in the unit did with their M-16s. Lots of fun to shoot!

willriskit · August 19th, 2011, 05:26 PM

I loved the M3A1 because it was like a super .45, very easy to clean and maintain (two hinged halves) and volley fire was possible by holding it at a high angle. Its distinctive plup-plup-plup made it about the quietest weapon we had and recoil was negligable. It was the only weapon we were ever issued by the Marine Corps with a bolt that was closed in the inspection position. Hope they're still being issued.

S/Fi!

mtime7 · August 19th, 2011, 05:51 PM

My dad had one in Veitnam he bought on the economy, he said he carried it on his lap, loaded with tracers, when ever he was driving somewhere. He said if they were ambushed he would just use it to try to keep their heads down while he got out there

CPTKILLER · August 19th, 2011, 07:32 PM

We had them in Armor units as long as M-60 series of tanks (M-551 Sheridans). This little weapon had a long life and was OK. In Armored Cavalry units the CAR 15 would have been a better choice.

We fired them some in Armor units but not much. Loading the magazine was slow and in most units we never had enough. In Vietnam I carried a CAR 15 that been "borrowed" from an ARVN by a friend. One of my friends a West Pointer from Hawaii swore by M3. Obviously neither weapon was on the TOE of our unit.

Fun weapon but too long in tooth, there were better options that were never adopted.