who made the best cc weapons in WW2?

[B@tfinkV]

close combat weapons im talking rifles and side arms. thompsons, M1, enfield, gw3 whatever. i am not an expert but i have played medal of honor a bit. from my stupid virtual experiences i would say i like the M1 Garand rifle and that german MP submachine gun. the Garand seems like an absolute beast with its rate of fire and acuracy. must have been a huge advantage fighting any ill equiped enemy, well from these silly games i've played anyhow.

but what was it like in real life? im sure the best close combat weapons must have been made by either the Germans or the Americans.

who made the best weapons looking back with the hindsight we have now?

[moot]

If those games are any indications, the M1, MP44 and FG42 or that russian drum-magazine PPSH to a lesser degree were those guns I'd most want in a WWII firefight..

[Arlo]

Gonna boil down to what it's designed for and opinion.

I'm prejudiced toward American made arms, I freely admit. I like the Garand as a battle rifle, the M1A1 as a carbine, the Thompson as an SMG and the Colt 45 as a pistol ....

But the Germans made some rather awesome weapons ... including what most consider the first modern assault rifle. And the Brits made some special purpose weapons for the SAS that blow my mind.

[Pooh21]

For Close fighting I think a spamgun, otherwise known as a PPSH would be best.

[lasersailor184]

Each has a specialized role.  Comparing them too closely would be actually like comparing apples to oranges.

For CQB, there are a few to pick from.  It's hard to argue with the pure power and destruction of the Tommy Gun.  But, it does have a limited range and controllability.  The M3 is similar, but not quite as good.

The PPSH doesn't have too much damage to it, but it does put quite a lot of rounds a good distance downrange.

[B@tfinkV]

i can never complete a level without the acuracy of a rifle. the rate of fire of the garand seems to have allowed almost 3-4 rounds/sec for 'firing from the hip' and still leaves you the option to take cover and take the distant headshot first time before setting the alarm off.

if you could only take one weapon and a pistol, would you take the spamgun and sacrifice the medium sniping range of the garand?


and as for apples and oranges, why wouldnt you compare them? hmm im hungry but also a bit dry, ill take an orange now. same with weapons of course, so the question is only a matter of your own opinions whatever your experience.

[Viking]

For close quarters combat I'd say the Russian bone-saw (PPSH) was the best, and contrary to Lasersailor's comment the 7.62x25 mm Tokarev round is about as powerful as the .45 ACP, but with better penetration. For medium range/assault the MP43/StG44 Sturmgewehr would be my choice. The best battle rifle was the M1 Garand IMHO.

[lasersailor184]

Maybe not apples and oranges, but personal opinion.  Overall, the Thompson and the PPSH were roughly equal.  However, they both performed differently.

[Masherbrum]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
The PPSH doesn't have too much damage to it, but it does put quite a lot of rounds a good distance downrange.

Right, that's why the German's cherished a captured one.    So much so, they designated it the the MP41 when they converted them to 9mm (MP717's for the one's that weren't converted).    Once they eliminated the drum and went to the box mag's, this was equipped Division wide and became tough to overcome in CQC.

[lasersailor184]

No.  Nothing besides the .50 calibers are as powerful as .45's under 50 yards.  Don't bother replying to this, it's not up for argument.

[lasersailor184]

Originally posted by Masherbrum
Right, that's why the German's cherished a captured one.    So much so, they designated it the MP717.    Once they eliminated the drum and went to the box mag's, this was equipped Division wide and became tough to overcome in CQC.

They cherished a captured one because the Mp40 was merely mediocre.  That doesn't say anything about the PPSH over the Thompson.

[Arlo]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
No.  Nothing besides the .50 calibers are as powerful as .45's under 50 yards.  Don't bother replying to this, it's not up for argument.

Get over yourself. It's on. Just because.

[Viking]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
No.  Nothing besides the .50 calibers are as powerful as .45's under 50 yards.  Don't bother replying to this, it's not up for argument.

As usual your knowledge is ... lacking (to use a polite term).

Edit: Both the .45 ACP and 7.62 Tokarev have 400+ foot pounds of muzzle energy with standard loads. The Tokarev however has a much higher muzzle velocity and greater penetration. The Tokarev is usually compared to the .357 round when talking about penetration and recoil.

[Fishu]

Instead of the PPSh look at Suomi KP31 (or M/31)

[SuBWaYCH]

Personally, I thought the Gewehr 43 was a pretty interesting design. Sure, it didn't have the punch of an M1, but it was semi-auto. I'm not sure of the round it fired though. Anyone know?

Also, the Sten series was a cool looking gun. Pretty sure magazine was 32 rounds. Sorta like a Tommy gun, IMHO.

As for the best weapon, IMHO, M1 Garand. Good mix of accuracy, punch, and rate of fire.

The weapon the Germans made the most of is, IMHO, the MP40 or Karbiner 98k.

Also, the Soviets had a semi-auto rifle that fired the 7.62 round, can't think of the name though.