What kinds of guns did the Nazis use in World War 2?

Answer 1

Handguns
§ Walther P38
§ Luger P08
§ Walther PP, PPK
§ Sauer 38H
§ Mauser HSC
§ Dreyse M1907 - late war use as emergency measure
§ Mauser C96
§ Volkspistole
Rifles
§ Gewehr 41
§ Gewehr 43
§ Mauser Karabiner 98k
§ Gewehr 98
Submachine Guns
§ MP 18/MP 28
§ MP 34
§ MP 35
§ MP 40
§ MP 3008 (10,000) - use in 1945 only
Machine Guns
§ MG 08
§ MG 13 - second line units later in war
§ MG 15 (about 18,000)
§ MG 17
§ MG 30
§ MG 34
§ MG 42
Automatic Rifles
§ Sturmgewehr 44
§ FG-42
§ StG 45(M)
§ Volkssturmgewehr 1-5 (possibly 10,000 of all designs)
Sniper Rifles
§ Gewehr 43 (scoped)
§ Gewehr 98 (scoped)
§ Karabiner 98k (scoped)
Shotguns
§ M30 Luftwaffe drilling
Anti-tank Weapons
§ Panzerfaust
§ Panzerschreck (approx 290,000)
§ Panzerbüchse 38 & Panzerbüchse 39
§ 8.8 cm Raketenwerfer 43 (3,000)
Flamethrowers
§ Flammenwerfer 35
§ Einstossflammenwerfer 46
§ Flammenwerfer 41
Grenades
§ Model 24 Stielhandgranate Offensive Hand Grenade
§ Model 43 Stielhandgranate Offensive Hand Grenade
§ Model 39 Eiergranate Hand Grenade
§ Splitterring
§ S-mine (anti-personnel mine)
Close quarter weapons
§ Kampfmesser 42
§ S84/98 III Bayonet
§ Luftwaffe Sword

Answer 2

The Nazi's used many different weapons throughout World War 2 for various purposes.

Their Standard infantry rifle was the Mauser Karabiner 98K (Karabiner meaning Carbine in german, the k meant 'Kurz', german for short) it was a bolt action rifle with a 5 round internal magazine reloaded either bullet by bullet or using 'stripper clips'. It was also used as a their sniper rifle when equipped with a sniper scope. This was the most common weapon.

The Standard submachine gun of the Nazi's was the Maschinepistole 40, in english Machine Pistol 40, (the 40 stood for the year in which the gun was designed), or just MP40 for short. It was a small compact and cheap to produce submachine gun using 32 round magazines. It was a quite effective weapon, but not superior to its main opponents, the Soviet PPSH and the US Thompson. It was better than the British Sten however as the sten's side mounted clip made the weapon difficult to control.

The Standard Machine gun at the start of World war 2 was the MG34, which was later developed into the MG42. The MG42 and MG34 were almost identical in operational use, but the MG42 had slightly higher rate of fire, and was far cheaper to produce. As a Light Machine Gun, The MG42 was terrifying to behold, and one of the largest advantages the Nazi Military had. With a fire rate of around 1200 rounds per minute, (the weight of the firing pin could be varied for a faster or slower rate of fire), the MG42 had over double the rate of fire of its adversaries (average of around 600 rpm). This combined with the 50 round drum magazines the weapon employed, compared to the 30 round magazines of the Bren or the 20 round magazines of the BAR, gave the weapon terrifying firepower. At 1200 rounds per minute the gun fired so fast the human ear cannot actully distinguish the sound of individual rounds being fired. The weapon was also quite lightewight, easy to maintain, with quickswapping barrels allowing total replacement of the barrel in less than 7 seconds by a highly trained team. The MG42 was so effective it is still used under the name MG3 by many modern armies today. The MG42 was A Lethal weapon to behold.

These were the three main weapons of the Nazi German military.

Other Weapons used by the germans not to be forgotton are:

The MP28, precusor of the MP40. Similar in design to the sten, a further development of the WWI MP18, the first submachinegun.

The STG44, a late war weapon that replaced both the Kar 98 AND the MP40. It was the first assault rifle, and proved a very powerful tool of the Nazi's.

The G43, as semi-automatic replacement for the Kar 98 that never fully replaced the K98 due to being unreliable and expensive to produce. It used a ten round detachabke box magazine.

The Nazi sidearms, the Luger P08 and the Walther P38, both effective handguns. The Luger P08 is a personal favourite of mine, a beautiful weapon in itself.

The FG42 (Fallschrimjagergewer, basically Parratrooper Gun), a rare and expensive weapon used by the elite german parratroopers, or fallschirmjagers. It was designed (and succeeded, to some extent) to fill every role at once, being a LMG (with its integral bipod), a submachinegun (as it was quite compact) and a Battle Rifle (as it fired full power rifle cartridges). However the full power cartridge made the gun difficult to control as a LMG, it was still larger than a SMG and was less reliable than a standard service rifle, meaning the weapon could fill any role, but not as well as a dedicated weapon could

The Nazi infantry AT weapons:

the Panzerfaust (meaning Tank Fist), an exceptionally cost effective weapon, able to destroy most tanks, whilst being very cheap to produce. It did however, have a short range.

The Panzerschreck (meaning Tank Terror), a improved copy of the United States Bazooka. It was heavy and expensive to produce, but could destroy any allied tank at long ranges (for an infantry AT weapon).

The Panzerbusche (tank rifle), an anti tank rifle, fired unbelievably hard bullets and insanely high speeds. It was only effective at the start of the war when tank armor was relatively thin, it was replaced in service by the panzerfaust and panzerschreck.

The Nazi's also made use of weapons captured from their enemies and borrowed from their allies, for example the soviet PPSH was the second most used submachinegun by Germany after the MP40.

In summary the nazi had a great variety of weapons used to good effect, and they heavily influenced modern weapons (the AK47 was based off the Sturmgewer and Many of the M60's design features are taken from the MG42)

All of the aforementioned weapons can be found in greater detail on other websites, wikipedia being a good starting point.