Some of the coolest items on earth are made out of a precious, rare material called Unobtanium. Unobtanium is so rare and special that unless you are also a very rare and special person, you will likely never get your hands on that item. In fact, you might never even lay your eyes on said object in person.
Unobtainium, for the shooting world, usually means that an item falls under Class III regulation by the BATFE. That is to say it is a transferable machine gun. See where I’m going now? Getting your hands on a legal machine gun is not easy or cheap. It’s mostly not easy because it is not cheap, but there are some additional hoops to jump through assuming that the money issue isn’t an issue for you.
In some cases firearm manufacturers have re-created some classic military replicas in semi-auto form so us mere peasants can have a taste of the real thing, even if it isn’t exactly like the historical artifact it is based on.
We can’t help but chip in and do our part, too. Our Legends line was born out of a desire to pay homage to many of the classic war time replicas, full-auto or not, without causing the consumer to go into debt and still have fun with it. In talking with our customers over the years, I have found that the Legends airguns are favorites for people of all ages and for a wide variety of reasons Some customers bought them simply for a conversation piece for their office or den. Others use them and use them hard.
While there are “affordable” MP40s, M1A1s, 1911A1s, etc. on the firearms market, the M3 Grease Gun in semi-auto trim is around $1,250. You would need to want one of those pretty bad. Oh, and the Class III version will set you back $25,000 to $45,000 depending on condition and any accessories included. What the Legends M3 gives you is true open bolt full-auto action and a price tag that is much more palatable– Under $300 for the M3, gobs of BBs, and gobs of 12g CO2.
The Grease Gun has always been a curiosity in the firearms world. This is partly due to its full metal construction. Most military weapons from the Korean War and earlier eras have featured wood stocks, grips, or hand guards. The Grease Gun had none of that. It was all steel.
Secondly, the story behind the Grease Gun’s development is fascinating. In short, the machine time and resources required to make the M1A1 was not copesetic with the bean counters in the administration offices nor the soldiers on the battlefield. The military needed something that was much cheaper and much faster to produce. The M3 didn’t need much in the way of machining and it could be produced quickly and cheaply while still doing the job it was intended to do.
Due to the Grease Gun’s open bolt design, it isn’t ideal for fine tuned super accurate fire. To fire from an open bolt, the bolt and firing pin are released by the pull of the trigger. Nearly every firearm in popular use fires from a closed bolt. Open bolt firearms are great for suppressing fire, or shooting fish in barrel as a manner of speaking, but not very good for precise fire or longer range shooting.
The Legends M3 Grease Gun, therefore is not a precision plinker, but rather a fun range toy best used for annihilating soda cans or Shoot-N-C targets. Just load it with BBs, fresh CO2 and let your stress go down the barrel. I highly recommend this as an option for when single shot plinking just isn’t doing the trick.
Have you picked up your Legends M3? This past fall it would appear that many of you did as we sold out in the middle of Black Friday. For those folks we say a hearty, “Thank you!” Now we are stocked back up again and it would be a fine time to order one should you desire to get this affordable full-auto replica. Of course it’s “just a BB gun” but it is one of the coolest BB guns on the planet.