G3

The G3 (German: Gewehr 3; English: Rifle 3), is a battle rifle designed in 1959 and manufactured by German small arms producer Heckler & Koch. It is a selective-fire weapon chambered for the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge, is typically fed from a 20-round detachable box magazine, and has a fire rate of 500 to 600 rounds per minute depending on the variant. There are four variants of the G3 that currently exist. The most recent incarnation of the rifle is the A4 variant, which possesses a collapsible stock.

Battlefield 2
The G3 is the Tier 1 unlock for the Assault Kit in Battlefield 2. The rifle itself is more powerful than the default assault rifles, as the weapon is a battle rifle which uses full-sized 7.62x51mm rifle rounds. However, it is made significantly less attractive to players because of the smaller magazine capacity (only 20 rounds compared to 30 for other assault rifles) and lack of a grenade launcher. However, some players actually prefer it, because they find the iron sight easier to use than the other assault weapons and in certain situations, having regular grenades is more useful than having a grenade launcher, e.g. when the enemy is on the other side of a hill.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Only available in multiplayer, the G3 is the last battle rifle issued to all kits requiring the achievement of Rank 22. The G3 uses a 20 round magazine, has a fully automatic firing mode and can be modified with a Red Dot Sight or a 4X Rifle Scope (with download of the 1.05 Patch or on private PC servers). It has a low fire rate combined with high power, but with very low fully automatic accuracy. These attributes make it preferable for close to medium range, however the G3 can be used in one to two-shot bursts at medium to long range in order to minimize accuracy loss. Automatic fire and hip firing is more effective for close range combat. If an optic is attached to the G3, it can aid greatly with pin-point accuracy, especially at long range. However, some players might not find it necessary, due to its generally open iron sights. When the G3 is shot from a crouched position, it is far more accurate due to the lower recoil. The G3 is one of the weapons that has a 50% recoil decrease when crouching, making crouching a better option for long range targets. The G3 handles and performs roughly similar to the M14 in the Vietnam expansion pack for Bad Company 2.

Magnum Ammunition is a good choice for players using the G3 at long range as it minimizes the amount of hits to kill to a maximum of four (20x1.25=25), rather than five. It also greatly increases close range damage (25x1.25=31.25), so a slightly injured opponent might be able to sustain as little as three hits.

Marksman Training is also an effective option, improving the G3's poor accuracy. The G3's high damage makes it very capable even without Magnum Ammo.

The G3 can be very advantageous for assault players in larger tank-oriented maps, such as Heavy Metal and Atacama Desert, as the G3 provides a balanced middle-ground between the long range accuracy of the Mk 14 Mod 0 Enhanced Battle Rifle, and the close range combat capabilities of shotguns, while having access to C4 charges for anti-tank needs.

Battlefield Play4Free
In Battlefield Play4Free, the G3A4 is the default assault rifle for the Assault Kit. Its reload time is on par with many other available assault rifles, but it has the lowest average damage output of all assault rifles, and fairly moderate recoil that pulls more right than left. the weapon's range is also mediocre in comparison to other rifles.

For a starting assault rifle, the G3A4 is decent to get used to playing the kit, but players will want to either use Battlefunds or Credits to purchase a new weapon if they plan to stick with an Assault soldier. However, the weapon can be improved with attachments to make it much better, such as using a Stand-off Barrel to increase range, Soft Point Ammo to increase damage at all ranges, and a Tactical Stock to reduce overall recoil and deviation. Casket Mags and High Capacity Mags raise its capacity to 36 rounds per magazine or 28 rounds per magazine and giving an extra magazine on spawn, respectively. However, neither magazine modification increase bullet damage unlike the ammunition modifications.

Battlefield 3
The G3A3 once again makes another appearance in Battlefield 3.

Singleplayer
In singleplayer the G3A3 is very common among the PLR and Iranian Army, commonly used with optics.

Multiplayer
The G3A3 is unlocked for multiplayer when an overall score of 160,000 points are reached in Co-op. Formerly (Before the R3 patch), 441,000 points needed to be achieved in Co-Op to unlock it.

The G3A3's relatively low rate of fire, high recoil and low magazine capacity leaves it somewhat disadvantaged at close range, However it makes up for that with its high damage output. Its high minimum damage and an almost unrivaled degree of semi automatic accuracy, make it excel at longer distances where most other assault rifles would prove too inaccurate or low-powered. The G3A3 has been rebuffed since the March 27 patch on PS3. The current maximum damage for the G3A3 is 34 while all the other assault rifles' maximum damages are 25, and its minimum damage is 22 while the rest of the assault rifles' minimum damages are 18.4. This makes it a 3-shot kill at close range and a 5 shot kill at long range, both the lowest required on any assault rifle, which makes up for its low rate of fire. The G3A3 also has the the highest minimum damage range of any of the assault rifles being 60 meters instead of the usual 50. As a disadvantage the G3A3 also has the lowest bullet velocity of the assault weapons at 500 m/s, and thus has the lowest maximum range as well of 750m. However it still makes a very effective long range weapon as most engagements occur well within its range.

The G3A3 supports the Underslung Rail attachment which can be used to attach the M26 MASS shotgun but not the M320 grenade launcher like other assault rifles can. However the M320 grenade launcher can still be used as a standalone weapon. This is apparently because the M320 is too small to support the G3A3. The Flash Suppressor is an excellent attachment for this weapon as it reduces the weapons upward recoil by a massive 27.5% compared to the 18-25% of lower-recoil weapons. This substantially reduces the recoil making it a more effective weapon at medium range on fully automatic and easier to handle in semi automatic at long range. Another effective setup is to use the Heavy Barrel because it reduces your ADS spread by 75% and raises your muzzle velocity to 650 m/s instead of the very poor unequipped 500 m/s giving you a great advantage in accuracy as well as an increase in damage over distance. The Heavy Barrel also only increases the Vertical Recoil to .48 instead of .45 with it unequipped, making the Heavy Barrel still very controllable when used with quick bursts. Another good strategy with the G3A3 is to equip Heavy Barrel and an medium range scope for static hostiles, PK-A 3.4X or ACOG 4X and toggle on semi-automatic fire mode, whit this setup combo it is advised to aim for the head and use the high damage output to your advantage. The bipod can also be a useful attachment along with the afore mentioned setup as it enables the player to lay down fully automatic, highly accurate and highly lethal fire even at ranges where usually only snipers would be practical.

Trivia

 * In Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the G3 and the M14 Mod 0 Enhanced were originally intended to be able to be modified with attachable optics, however, DICE developers locked the ability to do so before the release of the game. Although players knew it was possible, through evidence from the first Squad Rush trailer and the VIP Map Pack 3 trailer, it was originally impossible to equip the Red Dot Sight or 4X Rifle Scope, except through the use of private PC servers which modified the game to unlock the ability. DICE had asked the community through a Battlefield Blog post if players wanted to have the optics for both the M14 and G3. Though many comments opposed the idea, most community members were for it. Hence, the G3 and M14 Mod 0 Enhanced were able to equip optics with the release of the 1.05 patch.
 * The M416 in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 uses the same style ironsights as the G3, although the M416's rear ironsight seems to be much closer to the user's face than the G3's, and takes up roughly 35% of the bottom of the screen. The G3's sights, by comparison, are far less obtrusive.
 * The G3 is the last 'all-kits' gun that players will unlock in Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
 * Upon release of the game a glitch occurred, saying the Player had to be Rank 26 to unlock the G3. This problem also occurred for the Mk14.
 * In Battlefield: Bad Company 2, if the players has G3 as primary weapon and M93R as a pistol, the swapping animation will be the same as swapping to XM8 Prototype's under-barrel attachment.
 * Battlefield: Bad Company 2's G3 ironsights are nearly identical to that of the MP5 and HK53A3, although the rear aperture is slightly different between each in proportions. The same is true in Battlefield Play4Free, with the sights being very similar to the in-game MP5 sights.
 * In Battlefield Play4Free the G3A4 (like the MP7, M9 and M60, just to name a few) had the meshes and textures ripped from Medal of Honor (2010), but not any of the stats of the weapons.
 * In Battlefield: Bad Company 2, if the player uses a G3 with a 4x scope attached, it will take noticeably longer to aim down the sights compared to other weapons with the 4x scope. Therefore, make sure you are scoped in before you start shooting, and avoid unexpected mid-range gun battles at all costs (run away, and try to take them from a longer range), since you won't be able to waste time zooming in once your target has drawn a bead on you.
 * In Battlefield Play4Free the G3 is called the G3A4 even though it has the fixed stock of the G3A3.
 * In Battlefield: Bad Company 2 it uses the metal handguard and in Battlefield Play 4 Free and Battlefield 3 it uses the full "tropical" handguard.
 * In Battlefield 3, the right side of the weapon only has positions for safe and full-auto, while on the left side the selector has positions for safe, semi-auto and full-auto.

Videos
Video:G3|Gameplay with the G3 in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at Atacama Desert Video:BF3 G3A3|Gameplay with the G3A3 in Battlefield 3 Video:Battlefield Bad Company 2 - G3 Sound|Firing signature from the G3 in Bad Company 2. Video:Battlefield 3 - G3A3 Sound|Firing signature from the G3A3 in Battlefield 3.