Gewehr 43

Gewehr 43 (pronounced GUH-VAIR) was a semi-automatic rifle used by the German soldiers during World War II. The Gewehr 43 fires the powerful 8mm Mauser round from a 10-round detachable box magazine.

History
The Germans were somewhat late in adopting a semi-automatic rifle. Their first such rifle was the Gewehr 41, made by the Walther company. The Gewehr 41 used a mechanism known as the Danish "Bang" semiautomatic action. In the Bang system, gases from the bullet are trapped near the muzzle in a ring-shaped cone then which pulled on a long piston that opens the breech and re-loads the rifle. Unfortunately, this system was generally unreliable and the mass around the muzzle put the rifle off balance, so the weapon was decent at best. When the Germans encountered the Soviet SVT 40, they were quick to adapt its design and the result was the Gewehr 43, an immense improvement over its predecessor.

Historical Note
For every 20 M1 Garand rifles produced by the Allies, the Axis produced 1 Gewehr 43.

Call of Duty United Offensive
The G43 is a semiautomatic rifle that has a 10-round magazine. Unlike the Garand, it can be reloaded at any time. It takes three to four chestshots or one headshot to kill a target. It has good accuracy, and it's recoil is somewhat-easy to control. While not as good as the Garand, it's a fine semiauto rifle for the Axis.

Strangely, the G43 will reload faster with an empty magazine than with a partially-empty magazine.

Note that the G43's reloading animation and new rounds actaully being inserted are not in sync. The new rounds will appear about a second after the animation is done, so don't put it away as soon as the animation is done.

Call of Duty 2
The G43 has received a major overhaul for the better in CoD2. It now kills with two to three chestshots and one headshot, has less harsher recoil, it will reload just as fast with or without a partially full magazine, and the animation sync glitch is gone. Combine those with the CoD:UO versions accuracy, and you've got a semiautomatic rifle that rivals the mighty Garand.

A G43 with a scope is only available in single player mode. It can be found in secret areas throughout the maps.

Call of Duty: World at War
The Gewehr 43 is unlocked at level 7 in the Call of Duty: World at War multiplayer. The gun has a rectangular iron sight and is similar in most respects to the Soviet SVT-40, with one large difference being the ability to unlock a rifle grenade for use. Also, it has less visual recoil (both have no noticeable actual recoil, but the SVT bounces slightly when shooting) and can attach a Suppressor instead of a Flash Hider, which offers slightly superior noise reduction. Note, that if you have the Suppressor on, the Gewehr 43 will reload as if the full magazine has been spent, thus, you will notice that the user will have to cock the weapon even if the magazine was not fully spent. The reload is quickened at partial magazine, making it the same speed as without a suppressor, but if a full magazine is spent, then the reload time will be the same as the Gewehr 43 unsuppressed empty-mag reload.

It takes on average 3-4 shots (range dependent) to kill an enemy (without Juggernaut) respectively.

The Gewehr 43's recoil is extremely low, and strangely the Aperture Sight tends to increases recoil by a small margin. When aiming down the iron sights a player can fire as fast as they like without a noticeable drop in accuracy. In this respect it is significantly superior to the M1 Garand.

The Gewehr 43 is common in multiplayer, as it is unlocked early and is one of the easiest weapons to unlock the Rifle Grenade with. The SVT-40 is usually discarded after the Marskman III because it is inferior to the Gewehr in many ways.