AFV Club 1/35 US 3 Inch M5 Gun on M1 Carriage Kit

The 3 inch Gun M5 was developed as a need for a more potent anti-tank gun than the 37mm Gun M3 then in service at the outbreak of WWII and combined a 3-inch (76.2 mm) barrel from the anti-aircraft gun T9 with the 105 mm howitzer carriage M2. The barrel of the 3-inch gun was combined with breech, recoil system and carriage of the 105 mm howitzer M2 and designated M5 on carriage M1 resulting in a gun that outperformed existing designs. Despite its weight M5 production began in December 1942 and was widely used in the Italy and NW Europe until replaced by an improved M6 on a modified carriage with slanted shields that was in turn phased out in favor of better-protected self-propelled tank destroyers by the end of the war.