Hudson all steel PFC M3A1 ‘Grease Gun’ - Blank Firing

This is the rarest of all Japanese Modelguns. Its serial number is 6001, indicating it’s, potentially, the very first that Hudson made of the M3A1 ‘Grease Gun’ back in the early 1970s. All steel construction except for the alloy bolt. Today, these are only available in heavyweight plastic, so this is truly exceptional and, possibly, unique. It comes with a canvas sling, two magazines, and 10 reusable brass .45 PFC cartridges. It’s absolutely superb and has only been used more recently for display and talks on the evolution of the SMG in WWII. Sadly, no original box.

This is the later model of the American ‘Grease Gun’ that followed the M3, which had a side crank handle for cocking the weapon. This version was simplified so you cock the gun by inserting your thumb to pull back the bolt. Safety is on the dust cover: ‘open – kill, closed – safe’. It quickly replaced the Thompsons and was chambered in the same .45ACP, with a 30-round stick magazine. The M3s/M3A1s were both produced from pressed steel that could be quickly assembled and more cheaply than Thompsons. Multiple companies made them, including General Motors and Singer. The sights were fixed at 100 yards to reflect that accuracy had been sacrificed for simplicity. The slow rate of fire allowed more controllable bursts. These first saw combat in the Pacific against Japan and then Italy in 1943, followed by D-Day through to the end of WWII. They remained in service with the US Army, mostly for tank crews, up to Gulf War I, until being decommissioned in the early 1990s. In total 655,363 were produced.

This has a genuine worn, battlefield look, that only adds to its authenticity. It can be fully field-stripped. The gun has 1991 London deactivation marks, which is a mistake from its past, as it has never been anything other than a Hudson Modelgun.

The price (or nearest sensible offer) reflects the rarity as well as utility to re-enactors wanting to illustrate the US Army in action from 1943 right up to the early 1990s.