Interesting experience, I actually have most troops equipped with M1 Carbine, though I make sure there’s at least one M1 Garand in each infantry squad. All my bomber guys with PIAT get an M1 Carbine, all radio operators get an M1 Carbine, if a squad only has one trooper then that trooper gets a grenade-launching M1 Carbine, mortarmen get an M1 Carbine because the mortar used in-game appears to be an over-engineered German one that they quickly found to be excessively heavy so they phased it out quickly I think even before WWII kicked off they knew it was too much. The French, on the other hand, and around the same time, utilized a light mortar that was TRULY light, like 3.5-4kg, which is 8lb or less, which is basically lighter than MANY standard-issue rifles! So, in short, I have quite a bit of experience with the M1 Carbine in-game.
I also have experience with the M1 Carbine I owned IRL that also had grenade launcher sights on it, though it didn’t come with that attachment you put on the end of the firearm in-game, however what I did have was this here muzzle break which I did tend to use because I did perceive a noticeable diminishment of recoil upon attaching it.
M1 Carbine Muzzle Brake
So, due to often using this, I cannot really give my own personal experience on the matter, at least beyond the fact that I found that the compensator helped decrease felt recoil. I also have a photo somewhere that is looking through the sights of that old M1 Carbine, however it had the post-war style of 100-300yd rear sight rather than the WWII-era two-position 50-100yd rear sight (at least according to the game Rising Storm) so I can’t even comment on the sight picture being accurate or not as I’ve never handled an M1 Carbine with an original WWII-style rear sight. The grenade launcher sights for the side, though, were present, and the in-game depiction (even though you can’t actually USE it) is accurate.
So, the M1 Carbine. I have heard people complain about it before and have replied a thoughtful post. Here are a couple reasons why I think it’s understandable at least to some degree. For one, it’s only like six pounds, QUITE a light firearm, and it also shoots a powerful pistol cartridge. 7.62x33, 33mm long casing, which is the same case length as .357 and .44 Magnum, which is why I think that calling .30 Carbine ‘.30 Magnum’ is actually understandable as long as you’re not confusing it with .300 Winchester Magnum, which is a powerful RIFLE cartridge. As it turns out, .50 AE also has about a 33mm long casing. So, we have low weight, and a more powerful cartridge than 9mm or .45 ACP, so we can AT LEAST assume that the M1 Carbine has greater recoil than a typical WWII SMG, which gives credence to why the M2’s high full-auto rate of fire is so difficult to control unless you have lots of experience with full-auto firearms, and even then is probably difficult to control.
Some have complained that it seems to have more felt recoil than the M1 Garand, even though the information in the game suggests otherwise. Let’s compare the two. So, about 6lb… no, I looked it up, it’s actually 5.2lb empty and still less than 6lb with a loaded mag and the sling/oiler, so that’s almost half the weight of an M1 Garand. Meanwhile, its muzzle velocity is 1990 ft/s, which is around 66% or so of the M1 Garand’s 2800 ft/s. It also uses a 110gr bullet compared to the 150gr bullet of the M1 Garand, which is more than 66%. So about 50% of the weight, but 66-70% or so of the bullet weight and muzzle velocity, which one would reason that in spite of being smaller/lighter, the felt recoil might actually be a bit more intense. Also the M1 Garand is longer so the front sight is farther away, and the M1 Carbine’s front sight is closer, so it could be that with everything being closer, in theory, maybe it causes the recoil to APPEAR to be more intense? Certainly up for speculation, might even be counter-intuitive to think that.
Okay, so, that all aside, I use the M1 Carbine very often. One reason is because it has almost twice the capacity of the M1 Garand, which i find helpful. It also has more than half the damage of an M1 Garand, which further makes this increase in capacity helpful. If it did less than half damage, then the M1 would technically be better in terms of how much ‘power’ is available with a full clip/mag. While standing, yes, firing at all rapidly can cause the firearm to quickly run away from you. Crouching helps, but prone is always the best position to be in so as to control recoil. I found that the best way to use the M1 Carbine is to deliberately shoot it slower than the rate at which you’re capable of using it. One shot at a time, if it’s close then I just start shooting steadily while pulling the mouse down steadily on my mouse pad so as to counter-act the recoil as best I can while I shoot. I also am at the point now where ALL my M1 Carbines are 1 star away from being fully upgraded which further diminishes felt recoil, so if all your M1 Carbines are only 1-2 stars, you will have a harder time with them than I.
I do experience consistent necessity to fire TWO shots upon a downed enemy in order to end him rightly, and even then, to get him in that state from full health, generally takes 2-3 shots. So that’s 4-5 in total for ONE max-health enemy. I have never experienced the need to score 3 hits in order to finish off a downed enemy, at least to my recollection, and I have quite a bit of experience with the firearm in-game. IRL, meh, within 200 rounds. I much prefer it over the M1903 or Kar98k or basically any bolt-action. The ability to just hip-fire or super close-range (within 10m or so) down-the-sights rapid-fire while pulling the mouse down and in crouch position or prone is FAR superior to a bolt-action.
Ultimately, there’s so many videogames out there where the recoil of most any firearm is negligible or even basically totally absent. I do like to see recoil portrayed realistically in the game, and I’m fairly content with the M1 Carbine’s recoil. Seems like it has more recoil than any SMG I handled in the game on semi-auto, and that is VERY accurate.
For the FG42 having less felt recoil than the M1 Carbine or M2 Carbine, if so, that does appear to be BS but keep in mind it’s heavier, has a hardcore muzzle brake, and a reciprocating stock. This all contributes to softening the recoil of that brutal 8mm Mauser cartridge, and if memory serves, according to Ian of Forgotten Weapons, its recoil impulse felt comparable to an AR-15. If so, well, I would not be surprised if the AR-15 had less felt recoil than the M1 Carbine. 55gr going 3000 ft/s or so, I imagine that pushes less than 110gr going 1990 ft/s. 2x the bullet weight, still has about 65% or so muzzle velocity, and the M1 Carbine is lighter than many AR-15 variants which would also contribute to muzzle climb, PLUS the stock is not in-line just as the M1 Garand’s is and so that design quality would ALSO contribute to more muzzle climb when compared to the in-line stock of the AR, and for those who may not know, an in-line stock means that the stock is present the entire way between your shoulder and the barrel, or at least if you looked at the back of the barrel and essentially made a line between that and the shooter’s shoulder, you would see that the point on the shoulder where the back of the barrel is pointing is covered by the buttstock.
FG42 being compared to the M2 Carbine is TOTALLY unfair, as I have mentioned in previous threads, but I digress. There are reasons why the M1 Carbine does indeed have recoil and I think it’s realistic that it does. I think that if you rapid-fired it while standing straight, it should not be totally controllable. It would take an experienced individual to be able to do so IRL, and you can also practice with the M1 Carbine and learn the rate at which you pull the mouse down so as to minimize the recoil’s affect as much as possible, ideally also using an M1 Carbine that has upgrades to decrease recoil, like I do.
With the STEN, it is indeed weak. At Airfield, I managed to pick off semi-auto shots on a soldier and scored 4 hits in a row, he then ran away to cover to probably heal due to being near death. That was less than 100m away, but might have still been around 90m or so. Also, yes, the recoil is noticeable unless you’re prone, at which point it can be controlled quite easily. Being crouched helps, or at least it ought to if the game is realistic. The STEN is also quite light, STEN Mk.II was just over 7lb, heavier than either the MP40 or M3, and the same or faster rate of fire than the MP40 which means it probably has more felt recoil due to being lighter, using the same round, but firing as fast or possibly slightly faster. MP40 was almost 9lb, so around 1.5lb or more heavier, which helps with recoil.
So yeah, STEN is inherently more difficult to use than the M3, and sounds like it SHOULD be more difficult to use than the MP40, but is it excessive? You be the judge, and it sounds like you judge that it is excessive. I myself don’t know, but also, I myself have only unlocked the STEN in the last few days and my time with it is limited so take that into consideration in regards to what I say. I definitely believe that it isn’t much good at 100m unless you’re prone, and even then, yeah, gonna take several hits to take an enemy down and then to finish him off, unless you get a lucky headshot or something. But hey, 50 Cent got shot with 9mm at nearly point blank more than 4 times and survived, so it isn’t unheard of. It is still just a pistol cartridge, which is less lethal at 100m than it is at the muzzle, and ultimately shot placement is going to be HUGELY important. That or a large quantity of hits, or a small quantity of good hits.
As for turret rotation, I know almost nothing about tanks IRL. All comes down to whether your assertion of 3.2 degrees per second is accurate, and more importantly, if that was truly the speed that the tanks rotated by and if that was indeed the maximum rotation speed. If so, I would actually DISCOURAGE the game designers of Gaijin to NOT increase turret rotation speed.
Also, getting to within 10m of the enemy is quite dangerous, I advise against that. I have adopted the strategy of not going to a location where the enemy can easily get up close without detection (like in the streets of a town/city with lots of buildings around) and there’s few-if-any allied foot soldiers around to aid in keeping enemies off me. Since adopting this cautious strategy, my tanks last much longer, and the turret speed doesn’t matter nearly as much. Enemy infantry are a threat, even to tanks, so it’s best to treat them as such instead of rolling on head-first to the line then stopping as soon as you notice enemy soldiers within a few meters of you. Having friendly infantry to help give your tank cover and keep enemy off of you helps hugely.
I see comments below on the M2 Carbine, I suspect when I get mine unlocked (VERY close to doing so, it’s my next level) I will basically not use automatic at all unless I’m prone. If I experiment with using it while crouched, SHORT BURSTS, but will probably stick to only semi-auto unless I’m prone. I rather like the idea of using the M2 Carbine in full-auto while prone, muzzle climb will probably be quite diminished but it will be still moving around pretty intensely within your grasp. Might be a bit like a rapid-firing full-auto shotgun, given the ‘spread’ of the recoiling .30 Carbine in prone. Get it pointed at the enemy or REALLY close, and start delivering bursts, quickly adjusting aiming between the bursts with the hopes of at least getting a first-round hit even if the recoil shakes the other rounds around them.
That’s an M2 Carbine vid by Ian of Forgotten Weapons, he shoots it in the video and talks about the firearm. Mentions the dropped stock, which I had mentioned, and says that it’s not a firearm you can just use as a full-auto bullet hose. It’s most effective with short, controlled bursts, but even then when you watch the firearm while he fires it from standing with bursts, it seems to me to rise QUITE noticeably. I’m not a fan of burst-fire mode, preferring just semi or outright full-auto, but it seems like the M2 Carbine would have benefitted by being semi-burst instead of semi-auto. If you don’t show control and restraint, especially if you’re not prone, seems like a bit of a wild stallion that’ll rapidly take off on the shooter and cause them to lose almost full control of WHERE the bullets around going. He also mentions that it’s mostly due to just how stinkin’ LIGHT the thing is. If it were the weight of an M1 Garand, about twice as heavy, the recoil would be much more controllable but I think should still have more felt recoil than what is felt from an MP40 or PPSh-41.
