PKM significantly underpowered

[Jedimushroom]

I don't think many people will disagree with me here when I say that the PKM is the worst AR in the game. Its rate of fire is too low for decent suppressing fire, its accuracy is abysmal and its recoil utterly horrendous. Add this to the fact that its zoom optics are still placeholder and you have a weapon that's practically useless.

The PKM's only redeeming feature is its relatively high damage, but due to the awful accuracy mentioned earlier it's only good up to around 10metres. If an AR is only useful for room clearing clearly something has gone wrong.

Most of the PKM's problems stem from two things, firstly that it is a stock bf2 weapon (one of the few remaining in PR) and secondly that it is a general-purpose machinegun, not the LMGs of most other factions. If you tried to put the M240 in game as an infantry weapon I imagine you would have similar issues. The russian forces already have an LMG in real life, it is called the RPK-74m:

Obviously a military adviser would know this kind of thing, but I imagine the Russian army uses the RPK-74m in the place of a squad automatic rifle for the most part.

Anyway, short of replacing the PKM, what can be done about its failings? Well for starters it needs lower recoil, the MG3 for instance fires 7.62x51 NATO rounds, which are nearly as big as the 7.62x54mmR bullets of the PKM. The MG3 has very little recoil and a massive rate of fire, the PKM is worse on both fronts, why is this?

Secondly, the main benefit of having a GPMG in the first place is reliable long range fire support. Without an accuracy buff the PKM cannot provide this, since its (presumably realistic) low rate of fire precludes it from truly effective suppression, at least let the damn thing kill once in a while.

If the Russian military advisers believe that the RPK would be a more valid AR then the conversion from the current Al-quds model would probably not be too taxing. However, if the PKM stays it needs to be improved significantly.

[Filamu]

Tbh I think the accuracy is acceptable at least a med range, my biggest problem with it is that the placeholder scope has blurred edges which are really annoying. With ironsights its not that bad, but without the scope you will have a problem against other ARs. Also the undeployed seems to have quite a lot more recoil than other ARs so its hard to defend yourself at close range.

I would like it a lot more if they removed the blurred edges and improved its short range a little.
The RPK as a right-click AR for russia would be nice if they use it IRL.

[dtacs]

Since its Sierra I really can't tell if this is sincere or an A+ troll, but I'll indulge..

Most of the PKM's problems stem from two things, firstly that it is a stock bf2 weapon

I'm not sure how you grasped that issues of value (damage modifiers, deviation etc, literally numbers) stem from the model as that makes no sense. I've found the PKM is the best MG in the game bar the Negev. There seems to be some stigma attached to its deployed fire simply due to the recoil animation being so violent; putting that aside it performs like a dream, not having the stupid vibration of the scope that seems to be the 'realistic' recoil institution method on its western counterparts when firing.

Secondly, look at this. Thirdly you simply cannot say more on the topic than the Russian MA's. They literally have hands-on experience and knowledge of the distribution and use of the PKM and RPK-74. If it isn't in game yet, there is a very good reason for it.

Essentially it sounds like you can't use it effectively. I - and many others - find it a perfectly suitable weapon which does its job in an asymmetrical manner to the M249, Negev et al.

[fillsson]

I like it a lot. And I agree with dtacs.
Plus, that "zoom in" you're talking about for the Russians PKM has the advantage of not having a scope covering your vision. Although from a realistic point of view I don't like it.

[dtacs]

The dodgy scope deal is just a placeholder. The Pecheneg will be ready for next version surely, with a scope too.

[Jedimushroom]

Originally Posted by dtacs

Secondly, look at this. Thirdly you simply cannot say more on the topic than the Russian MA's. They literally have hands-on experience and knowledge of the distribution and use of the PKM and RPK-74. If it isn't in game yet, there is a very good reason for it.

The RPK is never once mentioned in that thread, so I hardly see why it is relevant.

If you can hit more than the broad side of a barn with the PKM then my hat is off to you, but in my experience the combination of the horrible recoil animation and large cone of fire means you almost never hit anything. It's certainly no good at long range.

[izoiva]

As I know, PKM dealing more damage, than other ARs. Is it right?

[Jedimushroom]

It seems that the PKM does deal slightly more damage than other ARs, but since it still isn't enough to kill in one shot it's largely irrelevant.

Since many of you are disagreeing on matters of opinion, let us discuss what we know to be true. The PKM has objectively the lowest rate of fire of any AR in the game and I'm sure you'll agree it has the highest recoil. It also has a fairly low magazine count and mediocre to substandard accuracy.

With all that put together, what is the upside of the PKM? How is it 'asymmetrically balanced' against weapons that beat it in almost every respect?

[=HCM= Shwedor]

Don't know if it is just me or what, but I find that I am more accurate using the insurgent/Russian alternate no-scope PKM than the "scoped" version. Recoil on deployed-mode PKM isn't so violent imo, its actually quite reasonable. I always choose the no-scope PKM over the scoped when possible. But in comparison to other factions LMG's, it isn't very great except for ambushes at less than 150m. Using it in the non-deployed mode for CQB, you have a better chance of hitting a guy 1m infront of you if you aim at your feet instead of aiming directly at him, the recoil in undeployed and deviation is a tad overdone. I mean, the bullets will literally hit everywhere BUT the guy you aim at if you use it in undeployed. I've quite literally touched an enemy on his back, unaware of my presence, and missed in undeployed mode with half a mag.

[Jedimushroom]

I too have had much better results with the unscoped version, the scope seems to worsen the recoil animation.

The PKM is actually a fairly decent machinegun for unconventional factions, the problem is that it cannot compare to conventional forces ARs. It's also an interesting point that every conventional faction other than Russia uses the same ammunition for their AR and their standard assault rifle. Of course, the RPK-74m fires 5.45mm just like the standard russian rifles.