We relate the asymptotic behavior of $M$-estimators of the regression parameter in a linear model in which the dimension of the regression parameter may increase with the sample size to the stochastic equicontinuity of an associated $M$-process. The approach synthesises a number of results for the dimensionally fixed regression model and then extends these results in a direct unified way. The resulting theorems require only mild conditions on the $\psi$-function and the underlying distribution function. In particular, the results do not require $\psi$ to be smooth and hence can be applied to such estimators as the least absolute deviations estimator. We also treat one-step $M$-estimation.