Now this may not be an horrible weapon, but I don't know if I would want to risk my life using it.
On the M-48/M-60 series tanks, two M-3A1 sub machine guns were issued for the use of the driver and loader in the event that the crew has to fight dismounted. That's right the ole World War II "Grease Gun" soldiered on with the US Army well into the 1980s.
The first time that I ran into this was during Advanced Individual Training at Ft Knox, Kentucky. The first I that I picked up and used was a runaway, i.e. with a single tap of the trigger, it fired the entire magazine. Same thing with the second and third ones that I fired. Okay, these weapons have been used by trainees for 30+ years, not much call to update, right?
When I arrived at my first posting in Germany, the assigned weapons for my tank was a pair of M-3 submachineguns, right down to the little crank on the side to retract the bolt with.
And the M-1911A1s that we had, according to their serial numbers, they were third production run M-1911s. Yup, 1914 production models!
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