Murdoc uncovered a story which mentions that the US Army still has the WWII era M3 “grease gun” submachine gun in service for select units such as vehicle crews, engineers and radio operators.
M3. Photo from Wikipedia.
Interesting if true.
There is a discussion about it here.
National Guard in SoCal has them in the motor pool.
0 
0I know this is dated, but the Army had a lot of them stored in Panama in the late 80s and early 90s; although they were considered “obsolete.”
0 0I was a 63Y (track vehicle mechanic) during the first gulf war in 1991. I drove an M578 ( a tracked vehicle used to recover other tracked vehicles from the battle field – a combat tow truck if you will). Anyway, me and my sergeant were both issued Grease Guns (and M1911 .45 pistols). We had tons of ammo for the grease guns, so we spent a lot of time shooting them in the Saudi desert. Although very old, they are rather nasty weapons at close range. We also were issued M16s, a mounted .50 cal machine gun, and two AT4 anti-tank rockets. I remember at the time being impressed with how heavily armed we were as mere mechanics.
0 0bolter,
the m-3 and m-3a1 were nicknamed “the grease gun” for their alleged resemblance to the garage mechanic’s tool. they came out in ww2 as a replacement for the m1928a1 and m-1 and m-1a1 thompson submachine guns and as the blog post notes, remained in service until just recently, and may still be held in some national guard arms rooms. i did see one m-3 model racked in an m113 apc on a visit to a vermont guard unit back some years ago when my daughter was a teen ager, i was amused thinking it was surely older than any of the troops in the unit.
“gunner”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3_submachine_gun
0 0I was the unit armorer for B Company 8th Engineer Battalion stationed in Ft Hood Texas and back in 1990 we still had some M3s They were issued to the mechanics on the tank recovery vehicles and the CEVs if I remember correctly.
0 0My old friend (Major in U.S. Army) was a Mechanized Infantry platoon leader (Bradleys) and Company Commander in the early 2000s. M4s were it back then, and a few M-16 Firing Port Weapons also. He kept a Firing Port Weapon near him in the turret for “close encounters” because it was compact and fired full-auto only. Never heard of grease guns at all, I’d bet this is old information. One problem is the supply of .45 caliber ammo to line units since regular Army uses the M9 in 9mm.
0 0I carried one when I was stationed in Fulda, Germany in about 1981. I was a driver in a M-577 for regimental HQ 11 ACR. I was a 19 Delta.
0 0a friend of mine was a tanker in the gulf war in 1991 and he was issued an m3 grease gun and a m1911, both in .45.
0 0The US military doesn’t throw anything away, well mostly. They keep them in storage until it is needed again or forced by congress to depose of it. Worn out none weapon equipments can be auction off, tho.
0 0
I was a 63Y (track vehicle mechanic) during the first gulf war in 1991. I drove an M578 ( a tracked vehicle used to recover other tracked vehicles from the battle field – a combat tow truck if you will). Anyway, me and my sergeant were both issued Grease Guns (and M1911 .45 pistols). We had tons of ammo for the grease guns, so we spent a lot of time shooting them in the Saudi desert. Although very old, they are rather nasty weapons at close range. We also were issued M16s, a mounted .50 cal machine gun, and two AT4 anti-tank rockets. I remember at the time being impressed with how heavily armed we were as mere mechanics.
I know this is dated, but the Army had a lot of them stored in Panama in the late 80s and early 90s; although they were considered “obsolete.”
National Guard in SoCal has them in the motor pool.
bolter,
the m-3 and m-3a1 were nicknamed “the grease gun” for their alleged resemblance to the garage mechanic’s tool. they came out in ww2 as a replacement for the m1928a1 and m-1 and m-1a1 thompson submachine guns and as the blog post notes, remained in service until just recently, and may still be held in some national guard arms rooms. i did see one m-3 model racked in an m113 apc on a visit to a vermont guard unit back some years ago when my daughter was a teen ager, i was amused thinking it was surely older than any of the troops in the unit.
“gunner”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3_submachine_gun
I was the unit armorer for B Company 8th Engineer Battalion stationed in Ft Hood Texas and back in 1990 we still had some M3s They were issued to the mechanics on the tank recovery vehicles and the CEVs if I remember correctly.
a friend of mine was a tanker in the gulf war in 1991 and he was issued an m3 grease gun and a m1911, both in .45.
I carried one when I was stationed in Fulda, Germany in about 1981. I was a driver in a M-577 for regimental HQ 11 ACR. I was a 19 Delta.
My old friend (Major in U.S. Army) was a Mechanized Infantry platoon leader (Bradleys) and Company Commander in the early 2000s. M4s were it back then, and a few M-16 Firing Port Weapons also. He kept a Firing Port Weapon near him in the turret for “close encounters” because it was compact and fired full-auto only. Never heard of grease guns at all, I’d bet this is old information. One problem is the supply of .45 caliber ammo to line units since regular Army uses the M9 in 9mm.
The US military doesn’t throw anything away, well mostly. They keep them in storage until it is needed again or forced by congress to depose of it. Worn out none weapon equipments can be auction off, tho.