Rank the Infantry Rifles of WW II!

[Zapp Brannigan]

There's been a couple of these threads for tanks and aircraft. I have a thing for infantry weapons, so thought it would be fun to talk rifles. I've left out MG's, SMG's, carbines, and side arms to keep things simple.

1 - STG-44. The granddaddy of all modern assault rifles. Really in a class by itself when compared to other battle rifles of the era. Probably the best infantry weapon of the war.

2 - M-1 Garand. Patton's hyperbole aside, I think it belongs in the 2 slot for its semi-automatic capabilities, rugged handling (for a semi-auto), good stopping power, and ubiquity.

3 - Gewehr 43. I have a bias towards semi-autos for their ability to put rounds down range.

4 - SVT-40. The G43 copied and improved on much of the SVT-40. A good semi-auto that I rank lower than the others due to its lower production numbers compared to the M-1 and worse design compared to the G43. It was also known as being tough to maintain in the field (unlike the Mosin and AK series). I actually own one of these, it's a good rifle.

5 - FSG 42. Is it an MG or a rifle? I don't know for sure, but I do know it's dead sexy. That being said, not many were produced and its impact on the war was pretty low. Kind of a jack of all trades, master of none.

6 - Lee Enfield, Springfield, K98, Mosin. Honestly things get pretty muddled from here on out. Every major combatant made a pretty good bolt action infantry rifle. Hard to say which was better. I'd welcome the insight of folks with more info than I know about these rifles.

7 - Arisaka type 99. Not a bad shooter by any means, but I'm ranking it low due to its manufacturing problems. A lot of late war 99's were poorly made due to material shortages. Not the rifle's fault, but the quality aspect makes me rank it lower regardless. The early model was impractically long as well.

[REPENT]

Kar98 was the best rifle of the war.

[Butz]

IMO we should only rank the standard issue rifles

1. M1 Garand
2. Lee-Enfield
3. Mauser K98
4. Mosin-Nagant
5. Carcano
6. Arisaka Type 99

[Ghost of Makhno]

SVT-40 was also an issue rifle. In 1941 the TO&E of a Soviet rifle division mandated that 1/3 of total rifles were SVT-40s.

[Fornax The Lazy]

Mosin and a Type 99 mainly because I love them in Red Orchestra 2 (Even managed to max Mosin)

[Hikage]

Originally posted by Comrade Col. Butz:

IMO we should only rank the standard issue rifles

1. M1 Garand
2. Lee-Enfield
3. Mauser K98
4. Mosin-Nagant
5. Carcano
6. Arisaka Type 99

You know your Standard Issue Rifle is bad when Italy beats yours....

[Fornax The Lazy]

Where is Springfield guys?

[Hikage]

Originally posted by LtCol.Fornax:

Where is Springfield guys?

It got out dated basicly as soon as the M1 Garand was made and shipped out...So there is basicly no point to even mention it...

[=(e)= Lemonater47]

The STG44 isn't a rifle. It uses an intermediate cartridge. And there weren't any other assault rifles of the time.


Best bolt action rifle: Lee Enfield rifle. 10 rounds and the fastest firing bolt action in the world at the time. People saying it achieved this by not having double locking lugs like other bolt actions. But the Enfield actually does have them. It achived this by having the bolt only rotate 60 degrees as opposed to 90 and having a shorter cartridge. And the bolt assembly is just the smoothest thing ever.

Best semi auto rifle: G43. When this was made they made it as a markman rifle first then converted it to a semi automatic rifle. When they first encountered the russians they had a lot of SVT-40s which were way ahead of their time. The russians actually had over 1 million of these (and SVT-38s) by the time Barbarossa started. So the germans found themselves rather outgunned whether they can across russian units that actually gave resistance. So the Germans first attempt was the G41. There are two versions of it one was awful the other was extremely awful. Not many were made. The germans went back to the drawing board and more or less copied the SVT-40 this time adding on many improvements. Had a bit more kick than the SVT but it was reliable and extremely accurate. Making a distinctive sound as well.
Also SVT-40 production basically stopped in 1941 in favour of the cheaper mosin btw.

Most succesful rifle of the war: M1 Garand. This rifle changed how the whole war worked. It gave the american army extreme amounts of firepower at a cheap cost. The M1 Garand had a couple of issues such as complicated reloading and making a loud ping noise when you reload but a 12 man squad could easily suppress an enemy squad with the rifles alone. In terms of what weapon changed the war the most this was the gun that had the most impact.

[Julius Geezer]

The ping on the M1 Garand alone makes it the best rifle. I've never fired it in real life (nor any gun aside from an air rifle), but I judge WW2 shooters by the quality of the Garand's ping. Its just so damn satisfying.

[=(e)= Lemonater47]

Originally posted by Lord Gideon:

The ping on the M1 Garand alone makes it the best rifle. I've never fired it in real life (nor any gun aside from an air rifle), but I judge WW2 shooters by the quality of the Garand's ping. Its just so damn satisfying.

Well get rising storm. Has the best Garand ping. Level up your Garand and you can do the ping trick. Essentially endless Garand pings.

[Fornax The Lazy]

*Pingasm*

[Marmiteinajar]

Agreed with Lemonator, the M1 decisively impacted small arms to this day. Rather than having bolt action rifles for long range shooting when engagement distances were a few hundred meters or shorter, having a semi automatic rifle gave the US unparalleled infantry firepower especially in CQB.

Had Germany developed the STG44 or it's prototypes enough for the start of the war, who knows how the war could have ended.

[Maschinengewehr]

Ayy yeah Rising Storm!

Though the Kar98k and MN1898/30 basically performed the same. Loved the Springfield. Packs a punch, good accuracy and velocity but a relatively slow bolt.

Gotta hand it to the M1 Garand though. Being a standard issue semi-auto that fires the .30-06 round is the best firepower multiplier you can have

[Julius Geezer]

Rising Storm's Garand ping is glorious, as is Darkest Hour's for RO1 and CoD WaW's. Bad Company 2's Garand ping was a little disappointing I have to say, although the weapon itself sounds like a beast in that game.

[Curco]

arisaka 99 its the best stfu