MG3

The MG3 is a General Purpose Machine Gun that is featured in Battlefield: Bad Company and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The weapon is designed and produced by German Small arms company Rheinmetall AG and is chambered for 7.62x51mm NATO rounds. The entire weapon system is an updated version of the infamous MG 42 universal machine gun that was used by Nazi Germany in World War II. It is currently in service in the Bundeswehr and is produced in eight other countries including Germany. The weapon is mainly used mounted on armored and non-armored vehicles as a secondary or primary weapon, depending on the type of vehicle. It sports a 565 mm quick-change, chrome-lined barrel and usually is mounted on a bipod for infantry use, but may also be found on a tripod with a periscope sight to engage targets at further range with increased stability. Its standard iron sights include an open-type sliding rear U-notch on a ramp with range settings from 200 to 1,200 m, as well as a flip-up anti-aircraft sight that is provided.

Battlefield: Bad Company
In Battlefield: Bad Company's singleplayer campaign, it can be found as a collectible in the mission Par for the Course.

In multiplayer, the MG3 is issued to the Support class. It can only be unlocked once a player reaches level 25 or if one has purchased the Gold Edition of the game, it will be unlocked as soon as one begins playing multiplayer. It has a high 200 round capacity with 400 rounds in reserve and an extremely high rate of fire of 1,000 rounds per minute, making it the fastest firing weapon in the game over the F2000 and PP2000. It can kill in around 10-15 hits, but it has poor accuracy, making long-range targets difficult to kill. Burst-firing is advised if one plans to engage long range targets in this case.

MG3
In Battlefield: Bad Company 2s singleplayer campaign, the MG3' with a red dot sight can be found occasionally off of dead enemies, most notably on Airborne on the second level of the plane and in the fort of Sangre Del Toro. The standard version can be found on Heart of Darkness, in the house by the first boat you enter, on Heavy Metal, on top of a crate right before the first firefight on foot, and on High Value Target, on a crate right before entering the sewers.

In multiplayer, the MG3 is the 7th and last light machine gun issued to the Medic kit requiring 57000 points. It holds 100 rounds and fires at 1,000 rounds per minute (the highest rate of fire in-game, tied with the PP2000 Avtomat). The players who do have it tend to avoid using it because of the high recoil during sustained fire, low damage per shot, less than optimal accuracy, and somewhat obstructive iron sights. However, the high rate of fire and larger magazine than most submachine guns and assault rifles make it a very capable "spray and pray" weapon for close quarters use. Due to the low damage, magnum ammo has a small effect lowering needed body shots by 2 hits from 11 w/ out magnum to 9 body hits with magnum at greater then 60 meters, but because of its high rate of fire, it can be a very useful addition to the weapon. Using the MG3 while immobile and crouched proves most effective, minimizing recoil and deviation. For longer ranges, it's advised the user recoil sweeps. In the newest patch, the MG3's combat ability was increased, with a significant bonus to it's damage. Although the MG3 still cannot be used reliably for such things as tactical long-range headshots, its on-target accuracy in 6+ round bursts is nearly unmatched and highly demotivating when used effectively.

MG3 SA
The MG3 SA is also available to those who purchased the SPECACT DLC. It is basically the MG3 customized with Woodland, Desert or Arctic camouflage depending on the environment the player is in. It is unlocked to the player regardless of previous unlocks for the kit. It can be obtained over Xbox Live for 180MS points or through the Dr. Pepper/EA promotion, along with the special uniform. It can also be obtained on the PS3 for $1.99, and comes with the special uniform as well. It will eventually be released for PC.

Trivia

 * Since Light Machine Guns can damage helicopters in Battlefield: Bad Company, both the MG3 and the M60 are very effective at shooting them down if there are no AA guns or .50 cals in the area, the former firing more rounds to hit and the latter doing more damage. However, the same does not apply to Battlefield: Bad Company 2 as helicopters, except for UAV's, are armored up to but not including .50 caliber rounds.
 * Despite the in-game stats once stating that the MG3 SA had identical stats to the MG36, its performance was perfectly identical to that of the regular MG3. This must have simply been a mistake by the developers. This has been corrected as of the PS3/XBOX 360 1.04 Client patch.