When I was in the 1-12 Infantry, 4th Infantry Division in 1983, the arms room had M3s. Not the A1 models either with the finger hole in the bolt, these had cocking levers. I don't know when they were finally turned in, but if we had to go defend the Fulda Gap from the Soviets, at least some of our guys would have been carrying those.
In 1990, as a member of the 3rd Armored Division, we were still equipped with the M1911A1 pistol.
Official histories will list both these weapons as replaced long before, but they were still soldering on the active duty Army.
Did any of our readers run into weapons that 'should' have retired long before they used them?