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M3 British Black Refinish


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After spending a week at training for work, I decided it would be a good way to decompress by refinishing my M3 on Friday. After taking the gun apart and cleaning everything then roughing the surfaces (sand paper scuffing) I heated the parts with a hand held torch then applied a high temp oven/stove paint to them. After allowing the paint to dry I went back over them with the torch again to help cure the paint. I left the parts sit over night then after assembly I took a 0000 steel wool and went back over the gun to knock off the shine. I am happy with the way it turned out (though there is one spot I might touch up) As I shoot and handle the M3 it will develop the appropriate wear and handling marks. The only thing I did not do was try to straighten my rear sight as it appears to have been dropped or impacted at some point in the guns life. It has a small "flat" on the top now instead of being fully round but the thing shoots POA/POI so I'm not messing with it.

 

If you look back at my previous posts you will also see that I added the magazine "loop" back to the gun, making it look better than those with which the "loop" has been cut and ground off. Now with the refinish, the "loop" and adding an oiler and sling, my M3 should be back to the specs that the British have considered to be field ready.

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Looks nice!!!

When I built my AK74 I used Gun Kote finish and baked the parts in a gas oven. Heated to around 250 degrees, used a touch up spray gun to apply finish, back in the oven for 30 more minutes. Put it back together and have shot the s**t out of it. The finish is holding up great. I have since been told Hi heat header paint works just as good.

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  • 1 year later...

No idea why they painted them black, but if you look at many MKII STEN's they too are black

 

It had the British proof marks on the barrel, bolt and receiver. The bolt and receiver are marked with a crown while the barrel had the pressure test info on it.

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Do british M3's have a broad arrow stamp like the Thompsons, or how do you recognize them ?

 

Are you sure they painted them in black, why should they have done this, they did not paint their land and lease Thompsons either

Any M3 supplied to the UK in WW2 would have been supplied under Lend Lease and therefore will not have any broad arrow or British military acceptance marks.

If the gun has British commercial proof marks this still does not mean it was a 'British' gun, merely that it has passed through the London or Birmingham proof house at some point. As an example the gun could have been purchased from a European country by Interarms, stored in their Manchester UK warehouse before being on-sold. Prior to leaving the UK it would have to be (re) proofed before export.

 

Regards

 

AlanD

Sydney

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Do british M3's have a broad arrow stamp like the Thompsons, or how do you recognize them ?

 

Are you sure they painted them in black, why should they have done this, they did not paint their land and lease Thompsons either

Any M3 supplied to the UK in WW2 would have been supplied under Lend Lease and therefore will not have any broad arrow or British military acceptance marks.

If the gun has British commercial proof marks this still does not mean it was a 'British' gun, merely that it has passed through the London or Birmingham proof house at some point. As an example the gun could have been purchased from a European country by Interarms, stored in their Manchester UK warehouse before being on-sold. Prior to leaving the UK it would have to be (re) proofed before export.

 

Regards

 

AlanD

Sydney

But a lot of lend lease Thompsons do have a broad arrow and Enfield Inspector Stamps. I am talking about 28 Thompsons with the model designation US 1928A1 not the early 1928 models . I must admit i have never seen a M3 with broad arrow and agree you cannot recognize a lend lease M3.

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I have looked at 3 different M3's that have British markings and none have the Broad Arrow. Not saying that some don't, but it would appear that many only have proof marks and not British property markings

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Got Uzi, on 23 May 2017 - 05:54, said:

I have looked at 3 different M3's that have British markings and none have the Broad Arrow. Not saying that some don't, but it would appear that many only have proof marks and not British property markings

Makes sense since they were never British property.
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A serial number of circa 150,000 would mean the gun was made around June or July 1941, according to the table on page 321 of "Tommy Gun', by Bill Yenne.

Although the Lend Lease Act was passed in March 1941 nearly all existing orders for munitions place in America by the British Purchasing Commission were still paid for by the British and not subsumed into Lend Lease. Only new orders would become available under Lend Lease and this was certainly not automatic.

 

As an example the last delivery of the Smith & Wesson .38/200 to the BPC was the very end of October 1941. I have seen Colt records of small handgun shipments into 1942.

 

So the illustration shows the broad arrow as well as an Enfield inspection mark. The broad arrow is a government ownership mark, this was a cash and carry purchase by the BPC.

 

As to the 1928A1 marking on the receiver this was either done at the Savage factory because that is how they chose to mark all the receivers in light of orders coming in from the U.S. government, or it was altered later.

 

 

Regards

AlanD

Sydney

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  • 5 months later...
My M3 has the same markings as got uzi's. It was also painted black or what was left of it. It also has the guard welded over the mag. release. It's my gun so a pair of pliers snapped the guard right off with most of the lettering present. I then installed the mag. release guard made for the grease gun. Then I had it re-parked.
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My M3 has the same markings as got uzi's. It was also painted black or what was left of it. It also has the guard welded over the mag. release. It's my gun so a pair of pliers snapped the guard right off with most of the lettering present. I then installed the mag. release guard made for the grease gun. Then I had it re-parked.

Post some pictures.
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