M3 question

[bug]

A question came up on another board. Is an M3 marked carbine NFA? I've never seen an M3 marked Carbine and don't know how or even if they were marked. Thoughts?

Bob D

[Tuna]

Since T3 carbines had their mount cover the receiver ring the carbine was stamped on the right side of the receiver below the rear sight area with U.S. Carbine/Caliber .30 T3. Yes they would be NFA as they were mostly select fire rifles. I do not know if the originals ones were full auto or not but the full auto M3 was finally approved August 1945.

[jimb]

I didn't need any approval on my T3. It was a semi-auto. Many of them were.

[Shooter5]

Saw a carbine in the arms room one time and it had the M1 lined thru and it is restamped "M2".

[emmagee1917]

A M3 is not a T3 . M3 stamp makes it NFA just like the M2 stamping does. How the gun is configured is not a factor .
Chris

[firstflabn]

Where is the evidence that any carbine receiver was stamped 'M3'?

[Tuna]

If I remember right the M3 was stamped M2 on the receiver but had the M3 mount system on it.

[emmagee1917]

Well , back in '86 , I was scrambling to get a M1 carbine that I could paper before the cutoff . I did not want to convert one of my nice collectables . Friends of mine knew I was looking , so one night I get a call . Trucker was needing fuel and had no money , so he was trying to sell a carbine at the truck stop where my friend ate at. He wanted $125 for it and my friend said it looked clean , but had a scope on it . He then spotted the selector switch . He told me the reciever was " funny looking " on top and stamped "M3 " .
Ony one I've run into , and no , I did not go look at it . I told him what he had and to run , not walk , away.
So , I cannot say that I have seen one stamped "T3" or "M3" in person.
Chris

[emmagee1917]

Tuna , the M3 sniperscope kit could turn any M1 or M2 into a M3 type gun , and was so called by the military . The true T3 / M3 had scope blocks machined into the recievers and were dedicated snipers. Called the same and worked the same and used interchangeably , but different to collectors . Kinda like the registered M2 parts kit vs. a registered and converted M1 vs a registered and marked M2 original.
Chris

[oldtirediron]

Rock Island arsenal in Geneseo had a bunch of cut T-3 carbines and re--welded them together as semi auto carbines--- I saw a bunch of them and they were nicely done with a nice price of over $3500.00 many years ago !

[BrianQ]

All T3 carbines left the manufacturer as semi auto carbines. Of course just like an M1 Carbine a T3 could have been modified, post manufacture, to operate in a select fire mode.

An M3 Carbine was any M1 or M2 carbine fitted with the M2 Sniperscope system. No carbines were manufactured bearing an M3 nomenclature.

[firstflabn]

The last Inland T3 was accepted by Ordnance at least two months before the Sniperscope, M3, was adopted. The Winchester T3s weren't accepted until Aug 45, but were stamped a year earlier. M1, M2, and M3 in the Sniperscope nomenclature refers to the complete system - a combination of gun and electronics. A T3 was just the Ordnance Dept component, whether the Sniperscope model it was used on was M1, M2, or M3. It gets even more confusing when a mounting bar allowing use of a standard carbine receiver and stock and slightly modified handguard was added without an M4 designation.

It looks to me like after V-J Day, the M3 was cancelled, probably before any were assembled, only to be revived during Korea.