kineticpenguin:

M3 being a nervous and self-conscious SMG doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I mean, maybe if all you know about the M3 is “it’s super cheap and fires slow.” But there’s a reason why many people who’ve messed with both it and the Thompson would rather have the Grease Gun.

A big part of that is weight. The M1A1 is a beast at 10 pounds empty, and it was a lighter, “cheaper” Thompson. The M3 was about 2 pounds lighter. It was also more compact, and just generally less of a pain in the ass. Also, due to its much lower rate of fire, the M3 was much more controllable on full auto despite being lighter. It was also full-auto only, but given its slow rate of fire, taking single shots with it was relatively easy. There’s an interesting video here where you can see the UMP45 and M3 being fired and compared, incidentally.

So the thing is, yeah, the M3 shoots slow and absolutely nothing about it looks refined. It’s stamped sheet metal. But the more you look at it, the more you see a weapon designed not just to be cheap and quick to produce, but also meticulously engineered for ease of use and maintenance. With a service history spanning from WW2 to Desert Storm, the Grease Gun was actually used by US forces longer than the Thompson, which was finally retired in 1971. 

So a more appropriate M3 would favor the cheap and practical over the flashy and expensive, and be absolutely pragmatic, purpose-driven and self-assured... wait a minute.