MG3A1 (7.62 mm)

The MG3A1 (7.62 mm) on top of the Leopard 2A4

Description

The MG3A1 is a German 7.62 mm General-Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG). The MG3A1 is a post-war derivative of the MG42 machine gun, rechambered for the 7.62 × 51 mm NATO round and featuring other improvements. The weapon is primarily found as a co-axial or pintle-mounted machine gun on post-war German tanks. Being only a 7.62 mm machine gun it is largely ineffective against all but the most weakly armoured or open cabin vehicles.

General info

Being a derivative of the MG42, the MG3A1 performs almost identically to it.

Available ammunition

The MG3A1 only has access to one default ammo belt consisting of Armour-piercing (AP) and Tracer (T) bullets, which has at most 13 mm of penetration.

• Default: AP · T

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
AP	13	12	7	3	2	0
T	5	4	2	1	0	0

Shell details
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
						0%	50%	100%
AP	853	0.01	-	-	-	47°	56°	65°
T	835	0.01	-	-	-	47°	56°	65°

Comparison with analogues

The MG3A1 performs almost identically to the MG42 but has a significantly higher belt capacity at 1,000 rounds instead of 150. Like the MG42, the MG3A1 has an extremely fast rate of fire compared to other machine guns at 1,200 rounds per minute.

Usage in battles

Due to the very low penetration of this weapon, it is largely ineffective against enemy armour (although you may be able to penetrate some vehicles with extremely thin armour). Instead, it can be used to incapacitate exposed crew members in open-topped vehicles, though they are rather rare to meet in the vehicles it is equipped on. The gun can also be used for ranging HESH and HE rounds as they have similar velocities marking enemy vehicles and obscuring the view of enemy players (shooting at their gun sight), and knocking down terrains like bushes and fences. As most tanks equipped with the weapon also have it in a pintle mount, it can also be used to defend against aircraft and helicopters.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Extremely high rate of fire
• Very good belt capacity, especially compared to the earlier MG42

Cons:

• Low penetration makes it ineffective against armour
• Low damage

History

The MG3A1 is a German General-Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) chambered for the 7.62×51 mm NATO round, the weapon is derived from the war-time MG42 and bears a close resemblance to its predecessor. After WW2, newly founded West Germany was looking for a machine gun to equip the Bundeswehr (West German armed forces) and Rheinmetall was contracted to produce a new version of the highly successful MG42 from the Second World War. Since the original design plans for the MG42 were captured by the Soviets in the aftermath of WW2, Rheinmetall had to recreate the design by reverse engineering existing MG42s.

The new weapon entered service in 1958 as the MG1, rechambered for the NATO standard 7.62×51 mm and with other minor differences. While MG1s were being produced, existing stocks of MG42s were rechambered from the 7.92 × 57 mm Mauser round to NATO ammunition and designated the MG2. Throughout its service, the MG1 was upgraded with the MG1A1, 1A2, and 1A3 variants being produced. In 1968 the MG3 entered service as an improved version of the MG1A3. The MG3A1 is a variant of the MG3 modified for use on armoured vehicles. The MG3 family of weapons is still in service with the Bundeswehr and several other armed forces to this day.

Media

Images

• 

  A pintle-mounted MG3A1 on the Leopard 2A4

See also

• MG42 (7.92 mm)

MG3 variants:

• Beretta MG42/59 (7.62 mm) - Italian variant
• Ksp 94 (7.62 mm) - Swedish variant

External links

• [Wikipedia] Rheinmetall MG 3
• [Military Factory] Rheinmetall MG 3 (Maschinengewehr Modell 3)

Tank machine guns
USA
7.62 mm	M37 · M60D · M73 · M240 · M1919A4 · Mk.52
12.7 mm	FN M3P · M2HB · M80 · M85
Germany
5.56 mm	MG4
7.62 mm	C6 · MG3A1
7.92 mm	MG13 Dreyse · MG34 · MG37(t) · MG42
12.7 mm	S.MG.50
USSR
7.62 mm	DT · PKMB · PKT · PKTM · RP-46 · SGMT
12.7 mm	DK · DShK · 6P49 · NSVT
14.5 mm	KPVT
Britain
7.62 mm	Browning MG4 · L3A1 · L8A1 · L8A2 · L37A1 · L37A2 · L94A1
7.7 mm	Vickers
7.92 mm	BESA
12.7 mm	L21A1
Japan
6.5 mm	Type 91
7.62 mm	Type 74
7.7 mm	Type 97
12.7 mm	Type 60 (B)
China
5.8 mm	QJT
7.62 mm	Type 55 · Type 59 · Type 86
12.7 mm	QJC88A · Type 54
14.5 mm	QJG02
Italy
7.62 mm	Beretta MG42/59 · FN MAG 60-40
8 mm	34/40M · Breda Mod. 38
13.2 mm	Breda Model 31
France
7.5 mm	AAT-52 · MAC 31
7.62 mm	A-A-F1N
8 mm	Hotchkiss Mle 1914
Sweden
6.5 mm	ksp m/14-29
7.62 mm	ksp 39 C · ksp 58 · ksp 94
8 mm	ksp m/36 · ksp m/39B
12.7 mm	ksp 88