The M3A1 was my personal weapon when I served as a gunner on an M-60 tank in the early 70's. Both the gunner and driver got one as well as a 1911. The Loader and TC only got 1911's.
The M3 is a blast to shoot. The company armorer always seemed to be able to find expired ammo that needed to be shot up so a couple of times a year the company would head out to the range and shoot it up.
The M3 is remarkably easy to control though if IIRC it does tend to pull up and right. Keep it down to 3 to 5 round bursts and you can put a lot of hurt down range. We set up targets at 15, 25, 35 and 50 meters. Hitting a man sized silhouette out to 25 was easy, 35 a bit more difficult and 50 kinda hard unless you could do the one shot trigger pull (takes a while to get amount of control).
We did the taped together mag trick too. I was stationed at Aschaffenburg and there was a nuclear weapons storage facility nearby. Each company in the Battalion (4/64 Armor) took turns being the rapid reaction alert force and we always went to the site when called armed, locked and loaded (drills actually - but there was no such thing as a drill - always considered the real deal) so the taped mags stayed in the armory fully loaded.
I have fond memories of the M3. It'd be nice to own one. Probably cost an arm and a leg to get one though even if one could be found. Too bad - the price tag in '71 was a mere $79 I believe.
