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The M3 Submachine Grease Gun
The M3 Submachine Grease Gun

The M3 submachine gun (known as the "Grease Gun"), entered Army service on December 12, 1942. The weapon was produced by the Guide Lamp Division of General Motors Corporation. Even at the development stage, the weapon's design focused on simplified production, employing metal stamping, pressing and welding.


During World War 2, there was almost a desperate urgency to manufacture vast quantities of weapons as quickly and cheaply as possible – particularly submachine guns. The cost of producing the Thompson Sub-Machine gun and the time it took to make, had a significant part to play in the eventual development and deployment of the M3.

At $20.94 per unit ($313.62 in today’s money), the M3 submachine gun represented a triumph in low-cost mass production. In fact, it was initially categorised as “disposable” — meaning once the firearm became unserviceable its user would discard it and get a new one. While senior ordnance officers may have welcomed this throwaway concept, the idea did not appeal to those soldiers fighting deep inside enemy territory who could not readily exchange their broken grease guns.


Shooting the M3 was a straightforward process. First, the operator pulled back on its retracting handle to cock the bolt. He next loaded a magazine and closed the dust cover to put his weapon on safe. Flipping open the cover made it ready to fire. A press of the trigger sent the bolt forward, stripping a round of ammunition from the magazine and into the chamber. A raised dimple on the bolt face, acting as a firing pin, struck the cartridge’s primer and set it off. Force of recoil then pushed the bolt rearward against spring pressure, simultaneously extracting and ejecting the empty cartridge case. Although the M3 had no semiautomatic setting, a skilled shooter could “slap” the trigger to fire single shots.


The M3 was first carried into battle by paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions during the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Their reaction was mixed. Some men liked it, noting how the handy grease gun did not need to be disassembled before a jump and could be put into action right after landing. Others despised the M3. The 101st Airborne’s Don Burgett called it “a piece of junk,” while in the 82nd most troopers (if given a choice) preferred to keep their trusty Tommy Guns.


The grease gun’s already-dubious reputation suffered even more when reports began coming back from the field about its flimsy cocking lever and troublesome magazine. Dropping an M3 the wrong way, or even giving it a careless bump, could shear off the firearm’s retracting handle and render it useless. Repair depots across Europe were kept busy modifying damaged M3s with cocking knobs to keep them firing. The idea of a “disposable” submachine gun, it would seem, did not survive contact with the enemy.

The last time the Grease Gun went to war as an official member of the U.S. inventory was 1991 during Desert Storm. Tank crews carried them as a backup weapon – nearly 50 years after it was first introduced to save money and kill Nazis.

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Taken on: April 28, 2025
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