Deactivated WWII M3 Grease Gun

This is an early production WWII US M3 Grease Gun dating to 1944  "Battle of the Bulge" era. During WWII the Guide Lamp Division of General Motors Corp made a total of 622,163 M3s and M3A1s. In 1944 they made 343,372. The side cocking lever is only found on the first model this was phased out in the latter stages of the war and redesignated as the M3A1. The M3 or "Grease Gun" as its most commonly referred to as was the Amercians answer to a cheap mass produced machine gun. It proved very effective being chambered in .45acp, the same ammunition as the Thompson and Colt 1911A1.