Also known as Rheinmetall MG3, Maschinengewehr 3, MG 3, MG 3 machine gun
general-purpose machine gun
Key facts
- Type
- General-purpose machine gun
- Place of origin
- West Germany
- In service
- 1959–present
- Used by
- See Users
- Wars
- See Conflicts
- Manufacturer
- Rheinmetall , License-built by: Beretta , MKEK , Ellinika Amyntika Systimata, Defense Industries Organization , Military Industry Corporation , Pakistan Ordnance Factories , General Dynamics Santa Bárbara Sistemas
- Produced
- 1959–present
- Number span no built
- 1 million+
- Variants
- See Variants
- Mass
- 11.5 kg (25.35 lb) , 27.5 kg (61 lb) (mounted on tripod)
- Length
- 1,225 mm (48.2 in), 1,097 mm (43.2 in) (without stock)
- Barrel length
- 565 mm (22.2 in)
- Cartridge
- 7.62×51mm NATO
- Action
- Recoil-operated , roller locked
- Rate of fire
- 800–950 rounds/min (heavy-weight bolt), 1,000–1,200 rounds/min (standard-weight bolt)
- Muzzle velocity
- 820 m/s (2,690 ft/s)
- Effective firing range
- 200–1,200 m sight adjustments
- Maximum firing range
- 600 m (1,969 ft) (bipod), 1,200–1,600 m (3,937–5,249 ft) (tripod mounted), 3,000 m (9,843 ft) (gun carriage), 3,750 m (12,303 ft) (terminal)
via Wikipedia infobox
~23 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Rheinmetall MG 3 is a German general-purpose machine gun chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. Manufactured by Rheinmetall for the Bundeswehr, designed and derived from the World War II era MG 42 that fired the 7.92×57mm Mauser round.
The MG 3 was standardized in the late 1950s and adopted into service with the newly formed Bundeswehr, where it continues to serve to this day as a squad support weapon and a vehicle-mounted machine gun.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “MG3” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.