Oh, how I loved that gun. The vast majority of them were made by GM Guide Lamp division, but a couple of hundred thousand were made by Ithaca. The ones I used were GMs. The initial cost oon each unit was about $18.00 per copy. Which is a heck of a deal for a submachine gun that will throw a 230 grain, 45 cal ball round down range at roughly 900 fps.
The gun was surprisingly useful, although it had simple, fixed, stamped sights. I remember engaging a pop-up target at 100 yards with a five-round burst and knocking it over. The little gun is rudimentary as all hell, with a fixed firing pin, and firing from an open bolt. Still, it's a fun little gun to shoot and if I had the spare coin, I'd buy a case of 12 of them.
More story here.
I shot a suppressed M3 in a side match at the old
ReplyDeleteSecond Chance Bowling Pin Shoot. The clank of the
bullets hitting the steel targets was louder than the
sound of the gun firing.
The M3 was the second FA weapon I fired. I tried a
Thompson first, at a range in Marietta, GA. Then shot
the M3 and then an MP5. Liked the Grease Gun the
best. Too bad they were so scarce and pricy back
then, (and are worse price-wise now).
A tank museum in Anderson, IN had a lot of info from GMs
Guide Lamp division that was headquartered in Anderson.
They made lots of the guns in a short time in WWII.
Man, that would make a helluva truck gun or nighttime security in the south Texas brushlands. I was surprised to find out how heavy it is.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post and link - interesting reading !
Our M88 crew had M3s and I RO the .45 range for several years. It is a fun gun to shoot but due to limited rounds available they were only aloud to familiarize with it.
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