The Most Successful Machine Gun in the World

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The MG3 or Machinengewehr Modell 3 is one of the world’s most successful machine guns and is still in production and widespread use for more than 60 years after it was first employed. This General-Purpose Machine Gun is a German-made machine gun from the early Cold War era. It entered service in 1968 under the Rheinmetall brand and is essentially an adaptation of the MG42 machine gun, which was widely employed by Germany during World War II. The MG3 is simply an MG42 converted to a 7.62x51mm NATO round. Thus, its layout resembles the MG42. While the early versions were just conversions, the subsequent versions include a number of small enhancements in some areas. In terms of the design, the MG3 features a unique ”fishtail” shaped buttstock with a curved inward butt-plate, the top of which extends rearward to lay atop the user’s shoulder. The receiver portion of MG3 is rectangular, with a distinguishing long, shallow gradient on the cover section that slopes toward the buttstock. It is hinged in the front, and the entire receiver cover opens for loading.