Hello, welcome back to this week's Devblog entry. We continue with some new guns' presentation:
SVT-38
The first series of the classic SVT series was born in 1938 and was an innovative rifle that marked the beginning of semi automatic USSR mass produced rifles. The 10-round magazine could hold twice as much rounds as the regular bolt action rifle and proved effective, but it would take some time until it was finally adopted as a standard infantry type of weapon.
SVT-40
This legendary rifle became one of the most iconic killing tools that the USSR had at their disposal. The ability to reliably engage at medium and long range whilst maintaining a suppressive rate of fire, plus efficient mass production to allow this rifle to be spread amongst the troops (unlike SVT 38), made this weapon a choice for many that could get their hands on it. In addition, a shorter barreled version, the SVT 40 Carbine, was developed for increased mobility for those light and swift infantry units that required it. This carbine was not accepted into mass production though, so it is a useful rarity.
AVT-40
Someone had the bright idea of modifying the internal mechanism of the SVT 40 to craft an automatic weapon out of the deadly rifle. The result was controversial. Excellent performance in close range preserving plus the long range capabilities. On the other hand, automatic fire increased the material fatigue so they had a short lifespan, and the recoil buildup after shooting successive rounds was too great to sustain any accurate bursts after the second or third shell. The magazine was too small as well. It is, at the end of the day, a useful weapon to quickly harass enemy infantry provided that you shoot short bursts to conserve the pinpoint accuracy, and it is a great asset to the USSR elites.
Gewehr 41
The Germans liked what they saw in the Eastern Front when it came to automatic USSR rifles. They embarked in an adventure of their own to craft something similar for the Wehrmacht. The Gewehr (rifle) 41 rushed into production and arrived to the hands of the troops in late 1941. The design was similar to the SVT40 and housed 15 rounds, 5 more than the Soviet, but had a crucial disadvantage with respect to it's rival: the gas system and overall mechanical functioning was quite fragile and unreliable, needless to say , terribly inadequate for muddy and dirty environments.
Gewehr 43
The G43 fixed many of the G41's issues and became a very effective automatic rifle for the late war. The precision of this rifle was so that it was a favourite for marksmen and medium range snipers. In Gates of Hell variants of the G43 with scope and cloth are available for scouts and high tier infantry classes on the late war such as elite SS grenadiers.
Notice
We will make a small pause from rendering weapons. Its your turn to vote in the comments below, what you want to see from the following pending topics in the upcoming devblogs:
(A) A location story (like we did with Brest and Red October Factory earlier this year).
(B) Devblogs about our Ballistics and ammunitions system overhaul, as well as our realistic armour penetration redesign.
(C) Another Historical Feature entry about the tank of your choice.