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M3 Submachine Gun
The M3 & M3A1 submachine gun, commonly referred to as the "Grease Gun" or simply the "Greaser" owing to its visual similarity to the mechanic's tool, is an American submachine gun developed during World War II. Due to the large .45 ACP round the M3 fires and its simple construction with stamped/pressed steel, it is very reliable, extremely simple to operate, compact, has relatively high controllability on full-auto due to the low cyclic rate, simplicity of fixing and maintaining it, cheap manufacturing costs, and ease of sound suppression and/or conversion to 9x19mm, all of which appealed to many in the early special forces and paratrooper communities. The compact size and reliability, of this weapon kept it in service with the U.S. for decades after WW2 (particularly among armored vehicle crews up until the introduction of the M4 Carbine), and it is still used in some countries into the 21st century.
The original design of the M3 featured a crank-type cocking lever. In practice, it quickly became clear that it was fragile and prone to breakage, incapacitating the gun. As a result, some of the M3s were equipped by field gunsmiths with full-fledged charging handles as on other submachine guns, instead of the original levers. However, since the M3 bolt was so lightly-sprung that it could be pulled back with one finger, it was decided to simply equip it with a cocking notch, which was done on the subsequent M3A1, with production starting in December 1944.
In 1943, the Guide Lamp company produced about 1,000 weapons chambered for 9x19mm Parabellum. The weapon had 9mm caliber barrels and a magazine adapter to allow the use of 32-round Sten magazines. The weapon conversion received official military markings as the US 9 mm SMG. The US Army placed an order for another 25,000 units of this conversion. But already at the end of 1943, the order was limited to 500 units. In February 1944, conversion was approved and put into production. But it is assumed that only a limited number of pieces were made. The first 1,000 or so guns in this caliber were for testing purposes only. The 9mm conversion was only tested on the M3 model and was not continued with the introduction of the M3A1 model.
In 1944, the OSS also commissioned the production of approximately 1,000 weapons with integrated silencers from Bell Laboratories. The sound suppressor has been found to be 80% as effective as the Sten's sound suppressor. Work on weapons equipped with a silencer continued with the introduction of the M3A1 model. The tests showed that the silencer was heating up too much, so an additional barrel cover was used. The first model was officially named OSS M3 and the second model as OSS M3A1.
On the basis of the weapon, the T29 Carbine project in .30 Carbine caliber was created. Designed to compete with the German StG 44 with intermediate ammunition. It is believed that only 3 prototypes were made. The first two prototypes had a 14-inch barrel. And the third prototype had an 8-inch barrel.
M3
Specifications
(Production: 1942 – 1944)
- Type: Submachine Gun
- Country of Origin: USA
- Caliber: 11.43mm, 9mm
- Cartridge: .45 ACP, 9x19mm, (less than 1000 pieces)
- Weight: 8.2 lbs (3.7 kg)
- Length: 29.8 in (75.7 cm) stock extended / 22.8 in (57.9 cm) stock collapsed
- Barrel length: 8 in (20.3 cm)
- Capacity: 30-round box magazine (32-round mag from the Sten, less than 1000 pieces)
- Rate of fire 450 rpm
The M3 & OSS M3 and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:
Film
| Title | Actor | Character | Notes | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battleground | 101st Airborne troopers | M3 | 1949 | |
| The Most Wanted Man (L'Ennemi public No 1) | Fallone's henchmen | M3 | 1953 | |
| China Gate | Gene Barry | Sergeant Brock | M3 | 1957 |
| Nat "King" Cole | Goldie | |||
| Five Gates to Hell | Dolores Michaels | Athena Roberts | M3 | 1959 |
| Patricia Owens | Joy | |||
| Neville Brand | Chen Pamok | |||
| Ken Scott | Dr. John Richter | |||
| Nancy Kulp | Sister Susette | |||
| Nobu McCarthy | Chioko | |||
| Benson Fong | Gung Sa | |||
| John Morley | Dr. Jacques Minelle | |||
| Shirley Knight | Sister Maria | |||
| Greta Chi | Yvette | |||
| Vietnamesse guerillas | ||||
| The Longest Day | 1975 | |||
| Hell Is for Heroes | Steve McQueen | Reese | M3 | 1962 |
| The Black Seagull (Chyornaya chayka) | Aleksei Loktev | Ramon | M3 | 1962 |
| Anatoli Adoskin | Antonio | |||
| Cuban seamen | ||||
| Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb | 1964 | |||
| Pierrot Goes Wild (Pierrot le Fou) | OAS members | 1965 | ||
| Battle of the Bulge | George Montgomery | Sgt. Duquesne | M3 | 1965 |
| None But the Brave | Sammy Jackson | Cpl. Craddock | M3 | 1965 |
| Brad Dexter | Sgt. Bleeker | |||
| Is Paris Burning? | A French Resistance fighter | M3 | 1966 | |
| Sorrel Flower (Fleur d'oseille) | Bob Sissa | "The Musician" | 1967 | |
| Operation Kid Brother | Neil Connery | Dr. Neil Connery | M3 | 1967 |
| THANATOS guards, Allied Intelligence agents | ||||
| The Dirty Dozen | Lee Marvin | Major Reisman | M3; with and without "jungle-taped" magazines | 1967 |
| Stuart Cooper | Roscoe Lever | |||
| Al Mancini | Tassos Bravos | |||
| Richard Jaeckel | Sgt. Clyde Bowren | |||
| Telly Savalas | Archer Maggot | |||
| Donald Sutherland | Pinkley | |||
| Ben Carruthers | Glenn Gilpin | |||
| Charles Bronson | Joseph Wladislaw | |||
| Jim Brown | Jefferson | |||
| John Cassavetes | Victor Franko | |||
| German soldier | ||||
| Dark of the Sun | Kenneth More | Doc Wreid | 1968 | |
| Peter Carsten | Lt. Henlein | |||
| Olivier Despax | Lt. Surrier | |||
| Machine Gun McCain | Gangsters | 1969 | ||
| Five for Hell | Aldo Canti | Nick Amadori | M3 | 1969 |
| Salvatore Borghese | Al Siracusa | M3; With "jungle-taped" magazines | ||
| Samson Burke | Sgt. McCarthy | M3 | ||
| Luciano Rossi | Johnny White | M3 | ||
| Machine Gun McCain | M3 | 1969 | ||
| Hornets' Nest | M3 | 1970 | ||
| Gang War in Naples | Vincenzo Falanga | Pietravalle's henchman | M3 | 1972 |
| The Mechanic | bodyguards | 1972 | ||
| No Way Out | Grunwald's henchman | 1973 | ||
| The Violent Professionals | Bruno Corazzari | The blond robber | M3 | 1973 |
| Bruno Boschetti | The bearded robber | |||
| Emergency Squad (Squadra volante) | Gastone Moschin | Marsigliese | M3 | 1974 |
| Rabid Dogs | Don Backy | "Blade" | M3 | 1974 |
| Gambling City | Criminals | M3 | 1975 | |
| The Eagle Has Landed | Army Ranger | 1976 | ||
| The Muthers | Rosanne Katon | Anggie | M3 | 1976 |
| Pirates | ||||
| Sky Riders | Terrorists | 1976 | ||
| Greek Army | ||||
| Go Tell the Spartans | Burt Lancaster | MAJ Asa Barker | M3 | 1978 |
| The Inglorious Bastards | 1978 | |||
| From Hell to Victory | US Army soldiers | 1979 | ||
| G.I. Samurai | Shin'ichi Chiba | Lt. Yoshiaki Iba | 1979 | |
| jsdf members | ||||
| Superman II | 1980 | |||
| Oasis of the Zombies | Eduardo Fajardo | Colonel Kurt Meitzell | 1982 | |
| Partisans | ||||
| Never Say Never Again | U.S. Navy SEALs | 1983 | ||
| Jungle Warriors | Nina van Pallandt | Joanna Quinn | M3; With suppressor | 1984 |
| Emilio Messina | Mastranga's bodyguard | |||
| The Vengeance of the Winged Serpent (La vengeance du serpent à plumes) | Mexican soldiers | M3; fitted with perforated barrel shroud | 1984 | |
| Commando Leopard | Rebels | 1985 | ||
| On Wings of Eagles | 1986 | |||
| The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission | 1987 | |||
| The Sicilian | Christopher Lambert | Salvatore Giuliano | M3 | 1987 |
| John Turturro | Aspanu Pisciotta | |||
| Carabiniers, soldiers, outlaws | ||||
| The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission | Alex Cord | Dravko Demchuk | M3 | 1988 |
| Operation Corned Beef | Zargas' henchman | With muzzle device | 1991 | |
| Payback | Jeff Imada | Chow's bodyguard | M3 | 1999 |
| Chow's thug | ||||
| Blow | guards | 2001 | ||
| City of God | 2002 | |||
| Rescue Dawn | 2006 | |||
| Smokin' Aces | Kevin Durand | Jeeves Tremor | 2006 | |
| Chris Pine | Darwin Tremor | |||
| Assembly | Communist soldier | M3 | 2007 | |
| Speed Racer | 2008 | |||
| Black Dynamite | Tommy Davison | Cream Corn | M3 | 2009 |
| Brother's War | U.S. Army Soldier | 2009 | ||
| Inglourious Basterds | 2009 | |||
| Red and White (Merah Putih) | Dutch soldier | M3 | 2009 | |
| The Marine 2 | Arms Dealers | 2009 | ||
| Captain America: The First Avenger | Kenneth Choi | Jim Morita | 2011 | |
| Captain America: The Winter Soldier | 2014 | |||
| The Monuments Men | 2014 | |||
| The Taking of Tiger Mountain | 2014 | |||
| Cadet 1947 (Kadet 1947) | Dutch soldiers | M3 | 2021 |
Television
| Title | Actor | Character | Notes / Episode | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor Who (Classic Series) | 1963 - 1989 | |||
| Mission: Impossible - Season 1 | 1966 - 1967 | |||
| Garrison's Gorillas | Horst Ebersberg | Dutch Resistance Member | 1967 - 1968 | |
| Mail Call | 2002 - 2009 | |||
| The Company | Chris O'Donnell | Jack McAuliffe | 2007 | |
| The Pacific | 2010 | |||
| Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 2 | 2014 - 2015 | |||
| Rivals Forever - The Sneaker Battle | US Army soldiers | 2017 |
Video Games
| Title | Appears as | Mods | Notes | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines | "Submachine Gun" | 1998 | ||
| Fallout 2: A Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game | 1998 | |||
| Day of Defeat | 2003 | |||
| Forgotten Hope | 2003 | |||
| Shellshock Nam '67 | "The Greaser" | 2004 | ||
| Call of Duty 2 | multiplayer mode only | 2005 | ||
| Civilization IV | 2005 | |||
| Company of Heroes | 2006 | |||
| Forgotten Hope 2 | "M3 Grease Gun" | M3 variant | 2007 | |
| Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway | 2008 | |||
| Fallout: New Vegas | "9mm Submachine Gun" | Optional RPM upgrade and 60-round drum magazine mods available to player | Chambers 9x19mm fed by 30-round magazines | 2010 |
| Mafia II | 2010 | |||
| Dino D-Day | 2011 | |||
| Gotham City Impostors | 2012 | |||
| Call of Duty Online | 2013 | |||
| State of Decay | "M3" | added in Breakdown DLC | 2013 | |
| Sniper Elite III | "Patriot Weapons Pack" DLC | 2014 | ||
| World of Guns: Gun Disassembly | M3 Grease Gun | M3 & M3 with M9 flash hider | 2014 | |
| Dying Light | hybrid of a Intratec TEC-9 and a M3 | 2015 | ||
| Mafia III | "M1N8" | M3, OSS M3 | 2016 | |
| Heroes & Generals | M3 variant | 2016 | ||
| Call of Duty: WWII | M3, OSS M3 | 2017 | ||
| Insurgency: Sandstorm | M3, M3 with M9 flash hider, OSS M3 & M3 modified with rails | 2018 | ||
| State of Decay 2 | M3 Field mod & OSS M3 | 2018 | ||
| Battlefield V | "M3 Grease Gun" | added in the 5.2 patch of the "War in the Pacific" (2019), M3 with M9 flash hider | 2018 | |
| Enlisted | "M3 Submachine Gun" | M3 | 2021 | |
| "M3 field modification" | with field modified charging handle | M3 | ||
| "M3 Suppressed" | OSS M3 | |||
| Sniper Elite 5 | M3 & OSS M3 | 2022 |
Anime
| Title | Character | Notes | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time Stranger | 1985 | ||
| Tour of Duty | Stan Foster | Sgt. Marvin Johnson | 1987 - 1989 |
| Najica Blitz Tactics | Fuyuki | 2001 |
M3A1
Specifications
(Production: 1944 – 1994)
- Type: Submachine Gun
- Country of Origin: USA
- Caliber: 11.43mm
- Cartridge: .45 ACP
- Weight: 8 lbs (3.6 kg)
- Length: 29.8 in (75.7 cm) stock extended / 22.8 in (57.9 cm) stock collapsed
- Barrel length: 8 in (20.3 cm)
- Capacity: 30-round box magazine
- Rate of fire 450 rpm
The M3A1 & OSS M3A1 and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:
Film
Television
| Title | Actor | Character | Notes / Episode | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front Without Mercy (Front ohne Gnade) | US Army soldiers | Ep.12 | 1984 | |
| Band of Brothers | Craig Heaney | Pvt. Roy Cobb | 2001 | |
| Band of Brothers | Donnie Wahlberg | Sgt. C. Carwood Lipton | 2001 | |
| Hawaii Five-0 (2010) - Season 2 | 2011 - 2012 | |||
| Burn Notice - Season 7 | 2013 | |||
| Hawaii Five-0 (2010) - Season 5 | 2014 - 2015 | |||
| Hawaii Five-0 (2010) - Season 6 | 2015 - 2016 | |||
| SEAL Team - Season 1 | 2017 - 2018 | |||
| The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - Season 1 | Demimonde Club Guard | "La Dame de Fer" (S1E04) | 2023 | |
| The Continental: From the World of John Wick | Arnmundur Ernst Björnsson | Uzan | "Brothers in Arms" (S1E01) | 2023 |
| Bowery Member | "Loyalty to the Master" (S1E02) | |||
| Fallout - Season 1 | NCR fighter | "The Beginning" (S1E08) | 2024 |
Video Games
| Title | Appears as | Mods | Notes | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| World War II Online: Battleground Europe | 2001 | |||
| Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix | M3A1 with M9 flash hider | 2002 | ||
| BloodRayne | "Greaser SMG" | long barrel | 2002 | |
| Vietcong | 2003 | |||
| Call of Duty: Finest Hour | "Grease Gun" | 2004 | ||
| Conflict: Vietnam | 2004 | |||
| Condemned: Criminal Origins | "Submachine Gun" | with the barrel and sights of a Carl Gustav M/45 | 2005 | |
| Elite Warriors Vietnam | 2005 | |||
| Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood | 2005 | |||
| The Suffering: Ties That Bind | M3A1 with M9 flash hider | 2006 | ||
| Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45 | 2006 | |||
| 7.62 High Calibre | w/ various attachments | 2008 | ||
| Grand Theft Auto IV | Unusable | 2008 | ||
| Men of War (Video Game) | 2009 | |||
| Project Reality: Vietnam | Incorrectly ejects rifle casings | 2012 | ||
| Project Reality: Normandy | "Greasegun" | 2013 | ||
| Company of Heroes 2 | Added with Western Front Armies add-on (2014) | 2013 | ||
| Phantom Forces | 2015 | |||
| Day of Infamy | 2016 | |||
| Sniper Elite 4 | "Silent Warfare Weapons Pack" DLC | 2017 | ||
| Rising Storm 2: Vietnam | 2017 | |||
| Call of Duty: WWII | "Grease Gun" | 2017 | ||
| Battlefield V | "M3 Grease Gun" | added in the 5.2 patch of the "War in the Pacific" (2019), OSS M3A1 | 2018 | |
| Gun Club VR | Grease Gun | 2018 | ||
| Squad 44: Letters From The Front | 2018 | |||
| Strange Brigade | "Audley A40 Exemplar" | 2018 | ||
| Vigor | "Grease Gun" | 2018 | ||
| Death Stranding | Fitted with a barrel shroud | Unusable | 2019 | |
| Enlisted | "M3A1 Submachine Gun" | M3A1 | 2021 | |
| Military Conflict: Vietnam | M3A1 & OSS M3A1 | 2022 |
Anime
| Title | Character | Notes | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro | Casino Security | 1979 | |
| The Cockpit | American motorcyclist | Ep. 3 "Knight of the Iron Dragon" | 1993 |
| Burn-Up W | Outlaw | 1996 | |
| Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage | Washimine-gumi wakashus | 2003 | |
| Desert Punk | 2004 | ||
| Stella Women's Academy, High School Division Class C³ | Rin Haruna | M3A1, airsoft | 2013 |
| Ace Attorney | 2016 |
FM P.A.M
The FM PAM (Pistola Ametrelladora Modelo) series of submachine guns are Argentinian copies of the M3A1 "Grease Gun" chambered in 9mm Parabellum. Produced by Fábrica Militar de Armas Portátiles (FMAP or FM) in Rosario, the PAM 1 was essentially a rechambered copy of the M3A1 using thinner steel; problems with overheating and controllability led to the PAM 2, which added a grip safety to the magazine housing.
Specifications
(Production: 1954 – 1961)
- Type: Submachine Gun
- Country of Origin: Argentina
- Caliber: 9mm
- Cartridge: 9x19mm Parabellum
- Weight: 6.6 lbs (3 kg)
- Length: 28.5 in (72.3 cm) stock extended / 21.2 in (53.8 cm) stock collapsed
- Barrel length: 7.9 in (20 cm)
- Capacity: 30-round box magazine
- Rate of fire 850 rpm
The FM P.A.M-1 & FM P.A.M-2 and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:
Film
| Title | Actor | Character | Notes | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Boys of War | Argentinian soldiers | 1984 | ||
| An Ungentlemanly Act | Argentinian soldiers | 1992 | ||
| Blessed by Fire | Argentinian soldiers | 2005 | ||
| The Secret in Their Eyes | 2009 |
Video Games
| Title | Appears as | Mods | Notes | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project Reality: Falklands | FM P.A.M-1 | 2012 |