We continue our WWII Small Arms Series. Jeremiah and Mike Venturino discuss the history, care, loading and shooting these old WWII small arms. this episode is on the M3 Submachine gun also known as the "Grease Gun".
Please tell Duke I will be HAPPY to clean barns, reload as much ammo as he needs, mow grass, or even clean guns…just to get to meet him and see his awesome guns! What LOVELY property Mike has too. Very nice video guys.
ha ha I will let him know next time I speak with him! I know I speak for him as well when I say thank you so much for watching and for your continued support of what we do! --Jeremiah
Absolutely fantastic, l'm looking forward to catching up with these videos. It's a pleasure to listen to you both. I've been reading Mike's articles and books for ages, he is truly a legend!
Thank you very much for taking the time to watch and for you continued support! We really appreciate it. Mike is truly a wonderful man and his contribution to the handloading industry and knowledge base can not be understated! It's always nice to hear feedback and we hope that you enjoy this series we have a lot more episodes to edit and publish so keep you eye out for the new ones as well! Thanks again.--Jeremiah
We are very glad to hear that we will keep them coming! Mike is really a great guy not only is he knowledgeable he is also one of the nicest guys I have ever met. It was a pure joy to get to shoot these episodes with him. --Jeremiah
My dad (a longtime subscriber to Handloader magazine) was issued a grease gun when he first arrived in Vietnam (US Army, 1969). He said that the gun would function with only one of the six magazines he was issued. He sourced an M-14 and carried that the rest of his time in country. This is not a condemnation of the gun, just an interesting little anecdote about the grease gun in Vietnam.
Thank you for taking the time to watch the video and share that interesting bit of information with us! I love hearing first hand accounts and stories like that I think there is a lot we can learn from them. It is very interesting to hear from others who have had experience with the firearms we feature so thanks again! --Jeremiah
231 is my favorite propellant for the .45ACP too.Also a conversion kit was made for the M3 ;barrel, mag.,bolt ,to convert to 9mm parabellum as there was obviously a lot of this ammo available during WW2 and after the war.
That is really cool! I probably should have mentioned that as well I have heard of them but don’t have any experience with the 9mm conversation kits. Thanks for the taking the time to watch and comment we really appreciate it! -Jeremiah
Slim, Thank you so much for the kind words and the continued support of this series! We hope to continue on filming with Mike on other subjects if this series does well in the meantime we will have many more episodes on the World War II small arms to hold us over till we can arrange for another trip to Mike's shootin shack! Thanks again! --Jeremiah
I know a Korean Combat Vet, who did some house cleaning with the M3 in the day, he has high praise for its abilities. I have shot one once at a rental range, and it is very controllable. You are a wise man Mike, to have such a wonderful firearm! I wonder if my father, a tanker, had one on Okinawa.
I’ve heard a lot of good things and bad about the grease gun but definitely a lot more good than bad! They are very controllable and have a slow rate of fire your magazine lasts longer as well. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! -Jeremiah
I carried the M3A1 in the late 1970's in a Mechanized Infantry Company. We had 2 M3 and 3 M3A1 grease guns in our arms room. They were for the mechanics and the crew of the VTR (Vehicle Tracked Recovery). They fire from the open bolt and you can not close the dust cover if the bolt is cocked. Common procedure was to adjust the wire stock so that the butt rested in the crook of your arm. Hold the weapon slightly below chest height and walk fire into your target. The sights were next to useless and I never knew of anyone who actually used them to hit anything. Open bolt firing is not known for accuracy, better to walk fire into the target. With a little practice, you can get on target in a couple of rounds. That wire stock BTW is the one tool that you can use to completely disassemble the M3 and M3A1, and there is usually an oiler stored in the grip.
My dad also had an M3A1 grease gun that he carried, he was not a big fan of it and thought of it as cheap and a bit clunky. While they are a lot of fun to shoot and extremely interesting. I agree the sights are quite crude and not exactly helpful for accurate fire on a target. I personally also do not like the magazine button I feel I can not get and adequate grip without being in danger of depressing the release and dropping my magazine. It certainly would not be my first choice for if I was going into combat. Thanks for watching and taking the time to share your experience and the interesting tidbits about the gun! --Jeremiah
Thank you enjoyed this very much. How about video on Vietnam era weapons small arms to heavy machine guns. Mention the quad fifty, the duster , perimeter mini guns and the m 16 /m14 etc.
Glad to hear that you enjoyed it we appreciate your support of this series! I would love to do a series on Vietnam era weapons, sadly that is one area I am a bit lacking in especially in regards to the heavy machine guns. I do know a guy though also in Montana that has quite a few. I won't make any promises but I will try, it's on the long list of things to do! Thanks for watching! --Jeremiah
Indeed they were, my dad actually carried one while he was in during the 80s an interesting time to be in filled with lots of transitions but it was impressive how the the M3 was around for. Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
I really wish we would have had more time to do so, we only had 7 days to film before we had to leave and head back to the office so we did not get quite as much time with these guns as we had hoped. which is also why we did the conclusions all together and not separate as the shooting took up a great deal of time. Hopefully one day we'll be able to take a little deeper dive into these iconic and historic firearms! Thanks for watching and your support of this series --Jeremiah
On the troop ship heading to Viet Nam (US Army), US Marines were on board to provide security, Guess what they carried ? The grease gun. There were no security problems and everybody behaved!
I can believe that! The M3 grease gun would make for an excellent choice for close quarters engagements, large caliber, low rate of fire very controllable and quite handy thanks to it's compact size. That actually makes a lot of sense in that situation. Thanks for watching! --Jeremiah
That is very very true, one must be super careful especially with full auto antiques a squib can be the end of your prized possession. Thanks for watching! --Jeremiah
