Weapons of Tarkov

Pistols

Submachineguns

Rifles

Assault Rifles

Battle Rifles

Bolt-Action Rifles

Shotguns

Pistols

Compact Size

Semi-Automatic

Low-powered Ammo

High Sighting Speed

accuracy

For an in-depth view on accuracy, check out our guide on Accuracy and MOA.

For an in-depth look at all available pistols and their tactical uses, check out our Pistol Guide.





Submachineguns

Average Size

Select-Fire

Low-powered Ammo

High Sighting Speed

Practical uses for an SMG in EFT

SMGs extend the range of pistol ammo beyond 50 meters and does it with superior accuracy, muzzle velocity and firerate. In close range, their high firerate can overwhelm targets with pistols or shotguns and even some assault rifles if their fire rates are lower. For example an MP5 has a firerate of 800 RPM. Most AK rifles have 650. That is 2-4 extra shots fired in the same amount of time. The more shots one can land on a target in a shorter time, the faster the target will be dead and tabbing out to post on reddit that armor is useless. The closer the distance, the less accuracy is an issue.













Shotguns

Shotgun design

slug

Barrel length

spread

Shotgun overview

Large Size

High-Damage

Practical uses of shotguns in EFT

Self-loading Rifles

Self-loading rifle design

self-loading

Self-loading rifles in EFT

Rifles

Semi-automatic rifle overview

Long Range

Medium/High Penetration

Assault Rifles

AKM

Assault rifle overview

Long Range

Medium/High Penetration

Select-Fire

Versatility

Battle Rifles

Battle Rifles

Battle rifle overview

Long Range

High Penetration

Select-Fire

Versatility

SA-58

Practical uses for rifles in EFT

Bolt-Action Rifles

Bolt-action rifles design

Bolt-action rifles overview

Bolt-Action

mosin

Ammo

Heavy Penetrators

Note:

specialized choices

Specialized Armor Penetrators

Assault Rifle Calibers

Armor-Piercing Pistol

Standard Pistol Calibers

Soft High Caliber

Weapon Range

This weapons guide is designed to give new players a very comprehensive view on the weapon systems in Escape from Tarkov. Perhaps you just got the game and might feel overwhelmed by the choices presented or you are experienced want to take a deeper look at the different weapons.The first question a new player has is what weapon and what ammo to use. The choices are vast, over 60 types of weapons and over 70 types of ammo are presented to the player.Let's take a look at the weapon systems Tarkov offers. There aremore than 65weapons in the game divided into categories:This is a broad categorization and some weapon systems blur the line and might fit into more than one category.Let's start with pistols. Pistols are the smallest weapons in Tarkov.Pistols achieve compact dimensions by firing low velocity ammo and dispensing with complex fire control systems.Pistols are (with some exceptions) semi-automatic. They fire one shot per trigger press. Then the firing mechanism resets. This limits the amount of firepower, and the capability to suppress targets. A player with an automatic weapon will establish fire-superiority over a pistol shooter.The small size of pistols does not allow for high velocity ammo, such as the 5.56x45 to be fired from it. The frame would not be able to withstand the forces acting on the weapon. This limits the armor penetration and accuracy of pistols. Because lower velocity means lower kinetic energy. Gravity and air resistance will interfere with the bullet's trajectory more firmly.The time it takes for the weapon to be raised to aim is noticably shorter for small weapons than it is for large weapons.Let's examine accuracy.In this screenshot we see the shot pattern of a glock 17 on the left against the shot pattern of an M1A rifle on the right at 15 meters.The same test at 50 meters. This is the advantage of larger weapons, their accuracy provides consistent tight shot patterns, while pistol shot patterns have more dispersion beyond 50 meters. This weapon feature is governed by accuracy.A weapon'sis determined by its base inherent accuracy and modified by longer barrels. Ammo types also affect accuracy. Lower velocity bullets are affected by gravity sooner and lose more velocity at a distance faster. This can create different shot patterns for the same weapon. Some ammo types modify accuracy and recoil.Next are submachine guns. Evolutionary, in weapons technology, they were spawned from the desire to have the rate of fire of a machine gun in a compact, portable system. Portability requires the ammo to be scaled down, because at the time of invention of SMGs, machine guns fired ammo far too powerful to be used in an easy to carry weapon.This evolution made pistol calibers the choice for SMGs. The recoil is managable and the weapon can be built small and light. The key advantages of these weapon systems are automatic firemodes, high rate of fire and high accuracy (compared to pistols) because of the use of stocks and longer barrels. An SMG is a more stable weapon system to get more out of the ballistic potential of a pistol bullet. Some of the compact size of a pistol is traded for more accuracy and stability.SMGs sit between pistols and rifles in size. This can reach from highly compact weapons that are almost the size of a pistol to SMGs that are comparable to rifles.SMGS have select-fire capability, which is the ability to switch between semi-automatic and fully-automatic fire. This capability offers more firepower on target than a pistol.Classic 9mm SMGs fire relatively low-powered ammo that can not compare to range and accuracy with assault rifles. This is actually an intended feature in law-enforcement in urban areas. Because the threat of bystanders getting hit by stray rounds is lower.Compact size and light weight allow fast sighting.Shotguns are close range weapons with the main purpose of hunting or self-defense as their military use is limited. The primary ammo type is a shotgun shell that, instead of firing bullets out of a rifled barrel, fires a set of smaller pellets that disperse in flight and perforate a larger area when hitting the target. The damage output is devastating against unarmored targets but lacks armor penetration. Most shotguns are smoothbore weapons, that means their barrel does not have any rifling. Rifling makes the bullet spin to stabilize its flight and increase the range. Most shotguns do not have rifling. However there are still options to use a solid projectile out of it. This ammo is called a "slug". A shotgunis a solid projectile that lacks the stabilizing spin of a rifle bullet and is therefore less capable of hitting distant targets. Slugs are heavy projectiles that have a large damage output. You can think of it as compressing the power of a shotgun shell into a solid slug to reach targets that are out of range of shell shot.Theof a shell depends on the length of the barrel. A shorter barrel has a larger spread. A longer barrel provides more time and distance for the pellets to accelerate forward and therefore withstand gravity and air resistance for longer.Shotguns chambered for 12gauge are large, bulky weapons. However modding them with shorter barrels can cut down the size.The damage output of shotguns is very high, the highest among all weapon classes.Shotguns are devastating at close range. Unarmored targets won't survive a direct hit to the center of mass. Armored targets will suffer severe black limbs, and will end up retreating from the map if they survive getting hit.The first wide use ofrifles started in the 1930s. The aim was to overcome the limitations of bolt-action rifles by creating a mechanism that was self-loading, where the recoil pressure of the shot would actuate the mechanism to load the next round. These systems already existed for pistols and machine guns. Self-loading is not to be confused with semi-automatic. Self-loading is a weapon that can load the next round with recoil energy. This is not an indication of whether it can shoot semi-or fully automatic.Most weapons of this type in EFT fire intermediate or full size rifle calibers. They provide long range firepower and a higher rate of fire. This category can be divided into rifles, assault rifles and battle rifles.These are self-loading rifles firing intermediate calibers, such as the 7.62x39. Intermediate calibers were intended to reach out to 200-400meters, beyond what pistol calibers could reach. And below what full-size rifle calibers can reach. The idea was that a full-sized rifle caliber as the 7.62x54R is too powerful and too difficult to handle for combat below 400 meters, where something smaller would be adequate.The most representative weapon of this mechanism in EFT is the SKS.The SKS is a semi-automatic rifle/carbine chambered for 7.62x39. It is a relatively compact weapon and comes with a detachable 20-round box magazine.The average intermediate and above caliber rifles (Anything 5.56 and larger) are very accurate and can easily hit a target at hundreds of meters.The penetration is above pistol and shotgun calibers.Assault rifles are evolutionary the next step in the history of self-loading rifles. Their main addition was a fully automatic firemode. ARs diverged in caliber choice, some favoring lighter intermediate cartridges like the 5.56 or 5.45m and some heavier rifle calibers. Self-loading rifles that use full size rifle calibers are referred to "battle rifles" in EFT.Assault rifles share the same functionality as semi-automatic rifles but with larger magazines, and the weapon layout being changed to support automatic fire better. The most famous design in EFT is the AKM.Theis a select-fire assault rifle chambered for 7.62x39. Compared to the SKS its design features more SMG layout features, such as a pistol grip.The average intermediate and above caliber rifles (Anything 5.56 and larger) are very accurate and can easily hit a target at hundreds of meters.The penetration is above pistol and shotgun calibers.Assault rifles have the ability to switch to fully-automatic fire. The recoil is higher than on a submachinegun, so the applications for automatic fire are close range combat or long range suppressive fire.Assault rifles are the most versatile weapons in the game and have no real disadvantage other than high weight and large dimensions. The represent the most balanced choice between firepower, range and portability.are assault rifles that have not diverged towards smaller calibers but instead went for full-sized rifle calibers. Their purpose in combat is to accurately hit targets at beyond what assault rifles can reach.The average intermediate and above caliber rifles (Anything 5.56 and larger) are very accurate and can easily hit a target at hundreds of meters.Battle rifle caliber combine hard hitting damage and high penetration.Some battle rifles have the ability to switch to fully-automatic fire. The recoil is very high so suppressive fire is of limited value.Battle rifles are larger caliber assault rifles, they lose some of their portability in exchange for more firepower.Theis a copy of the FN-FAL rifle. It features select-fire and is chambered for 7.62x51.Rifles, with their semi-automatic capability cover the area up to 600 meters, however without a scope the furthest a target can be virtually spotted is below 300 meters. Depending on the caliber, the effect on the target can range from small damage to outright kill on the first shot.These weapons have been the standard issue weapon for soldiers for the most of the first half of the 20th century. They feature full-sized rifle calibers and the mechanism to load the next round is operated by the shooter. This was limiting the rate of fire.The weapon uses a manual bolt mechanism to cycle the next shot, which limits the rate of fire.Theis a bolt-action rifle chambered for the7.62x54R. There are several variants for this weapon in EFT.After this view on the weapon systems, let's take a look at ammo. In this chart we can quickly assess the capabilities of each caliber. If your target is heavily armored, picking calibers that are high penetration is the best choice. This means further up. If you want to apply damage to the target, it means to the right. Therefore, the hardest hitting calibers in the game are found in the top right. These are the heavy penetrators. Full-sized rifle calibers. Incidently, these are fired from large and heavy weapons, such as the SA-58 or Remington R700.The charts shows the caliber average of all the ammo available for it. Each caliber hasthat are far away from the average. The 5.56, while being listed as 23.9 for average penetration, has its penetration maximum with the M995 at 53. These are the 4.6x30 and 9x39. They were designed for armor penetration. The first one is a very light bullet, it lacks hp damage. The second, the 9x39, is a very large bullet that delivers both armor penetration and hp damage. It was designed for subsonic combat, and its size and weight allow it to deliver more kinetic energy while flying slow. These are the three standard calibers used in assault rifles and semi-automatic rifles. As you can see in the graph, their average is dead center in the graph, means they are the best choice if you do not know what you will fight. They can reach most practical ingame distances with accuracy and power. Their only limitation is the large weapon systems needed to fire it. The 9x21 is a pistol caliber for high penetration and reasonably high HP damage. Weapons that use it are the SR-1 MP pistol. Its SP13 round has 30 penetration, which is more than 80% of assault rifle ammo types have. And its SP12 features 72 hp damage. This allows it to reach outside of standard pistol performance. The standard pistol calibers offer easily managable recoil in pistols and SMGs but their penetration is limited to below what assault rifles can deliver. Even if used against armored enemies, they can be dangerous, if the target is saturated with a high volume of fire or with aimed shots to unprotected parts. The .366 is a russian caliber intended for hunting. It is 9.3mm in diameter, making it one of the largest rounds in the game. It flies relatively slow and delivers very hard hp damage with very limited penetration. This caliber is a ghetto sniper caliber that can ruin players with weak or no armor in one shot, because it will destroy any limb it hits.When considering the distance to the target, ammo and weapon choice influence the probability of hitting it. Pistols and shotguns have a natural advantage at close distances up to 30 meters. The shotgun will start losing out beyond that. Pistols start losing their grip on accuracy beyond 60 meters.This is where the SMG can extend the reach of pistol ammo. Their longer barrels and heavier weight can reach much further beyond 60 meters. They will start getting accuracy problems beyond that, and this is where intermediate caliber weapons like semi-autos or assault rifles can still provide very accurate fire. Plus the disadvantage of lower fire rates compared to SMGS start fading, as fully automatic fire can only be accurately performed by well-stabilized heavier weapons.Bolt-Action rifles are severely limited once they are pressured in close combat as low capacity and low firerate can be overwhelmed by smaller weapons.