POTD: James D. West Grease Gun – 1968 Amnesty, Fully Transferable

Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a James D. West manufactured “Grease Gun” submachine gun, built post-WWII and registered during the 1968 amnesty. Homemade emulation of the GM Guide Lamp M3 and M3A1, alloy tube and sheet construction, with some original M3 components worked in.

The original M3 was itself designed to be cheap. General Motors built it at roughly $20 a unit versus $200 for a Thompson. Stamped steel, open bolt, deliberately crude, because volume production was the whole point. West looked at that design and decided it was something he could build himself. And he did.

.45 ACP, 8-inch barrel. The homemade construction is visible but that almost doesn’t matter here. The M3 was so fundamentally engineered toward simplicity that a competent reproduction built with basic metalworking skills will still run. This one does.

Comes with U.S. marked canvas cases, magazines, and loading tools. The hairline crack in the wood stock is typical for a gun that’s been around this long. The 1968 amnesty gave unregistered full-auto owners a window to bring their guns into NFA compliance, and West’s gun got registered during that period.

Most of our POTDs utilize images from our friends at Rock Island Auction Company, the premier firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse their current auctions – who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!

“James D. West ‘Grease Gun’ Submachine Gun, Class III/NFA C&R Fully Transferable Machine Gun.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/5031/97/james-d-west-grease-gun-class-iiinfa-cr-machine-gun. Accessed 28 May 2026.

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