Mafia III Weapons: Every Gun Worth Using

Set in a sun-bleached 1968 New Bordeaux, Mafia III weapons are the backbone of Lincoln Clay's one-man war against the Marcano crime family. Picking the right gun isn't just flavor — it changes how you clear rackets, survive ambushes, and take down enforcers. This guide breaks down every weapon class, the best options in each, and how to unlock the standout guns like the Stromer .223 and the M60.

Related Mafia III guides you may find useful:

• Mafia 3 Missions — Full Story & Optional Walkthrough
• Mafia III Underbosses — District Guide & Racket Tips
• Mafia 3 Kickback Cap Explained: Max Earnings Guide If you're replaying the game or just trying to figure out why your pistol feels like a peashooter, this is the breakdown you need.

How the Mafia III Weapons System Actually Works

Hangar 13 threw out the old Mafia II inventory and went back to something closer to the original game. Lincoln can carry one long gun and one sidearm at a time. That's it. No weapon wheel full of rifles, no hammerspace pockets.

Ammo is also simplified in a way that surprises a lot of players. Instead of tracking every caliber separately, kinetic weapons share ammo within four internal categories:

That last row is the odd one. Your Uzi, your AKM, and your M60 all drink from the same ammo reserve. Launchers and the dart gun use their own separate ammo, so those are self-contained.

One quirk worth knowing: weapons dropped by New Bordeaux Police officers vanish when they die or get knocked out, presumably to discourage endless cop rampages. Sinclair Parish deputies don't follow this rule, so if you're farming gear in that region, you can actually pick their guns up.

Best Handguns in Mafia III

Handguns are your fallback when a fight goes sideways and you're out of rifle ammo. They're also the only weapon class you can use while driving in some situations, which makes them more useful than they look.

Here's how the main sidearms stack up:

The Clipper .44 Problem

The Clipper .44 is the most expensive pistol in the game at $30,000 if you buy it from the arms dealer. You can also get it free as a favor from Thomas Burke after your third racket takeover. Lincoln's journal calls it "cheap and common," which is genuinely funny because in both the game and real life, the Auto Mag was a rare, expensive collector's piece with proprietary ammo.

It's a strong gun, but no NPC ever uses it, and it only spawns in one static location — the Duvall Hall Science Center. If you want it, plan for it.

The Alfredsson M419 Is Your Early Workhorse

You get the S&W 39 for free once the arms dealer's van unlocks, and early-game mobsters in Delray Hollow, Pointe Verdun, and River Row drop them constantly. It's not exciting, but it's reliable and cheap to feed.

Shotguns: Close-Range Kings

Shotguns shine in the tight interiors you'll be clearing constantly — bars, warehouses, and racket back rooms. Every shotgun in the game plays a pump-racking sound after hip-fired shots, even the lever-action and semi-auto models, which is a small immersion break the community has pointed out for years.

The Barker 1500 Tactical is the standout. It's semi-automatic, which means you can fire follow-up shots far faster than with the pump guns. You get it as a favor from Cassandra during the fifth racket takeover, or at the start of the final mission in the Faster, Baby! DLC.

The Lupara and Elmwood 1925 are interesting because they occupy your sidearm slot. That means you can run a rifle and a shotgun simultaneously — a genuinely strong loadout for aggressive racket clearing.

Submachine Guns and Their Role

SMGs sit in a weird spot. They share ammo with assault rifles and the M60, so every bullet you spray is a bullet you can't feed to your rifle. That said, they're excellent for close-quarters work where a rifle's recoil and reload speed get you killed.

The Silenced M1N8 is the one most players gravitate toward. A suppressed SMG lets you clear a room without pulling the entire district down on your head, and you can grab it very early from Cassandra.

The Skorpion is worth mentioning because it fits the sidearm slot. Pairing it with a rifle gives you a fast-firing backup that handles crowds better than a pistol.

Rifles and Assault Rifles

This is where the meta lives. Rifles cover everything from early semi-autos to the best automatic weapon in the game.

The Stromer .223 Is the Best Gun in the Game

The M16A1 — called the Stromer .223 — is the highest-tier automatic weapon, and it's arguably overtuned. It out-damages and out-ranges the M60 despite firing a smaller cartridge. That's not realistic, but it's how the game is balanced.

You can get it two ways:

• Burke's favor during the fifth racket takeover
• A CIA safehouse in the Stones Unturned DLC

Only two NPCs in the entire game use it during gameplay — Giorgi in the base game and Donovan in Stones Unturned. Everyone else is stuck with AKMs and M14s, which is part of why the Stromer feels so dominant when you finally get one.

The Pasadena AR30 Is the Reliable Alternative

The in-game AK is a parts-bin mix of AKM and AK-47 components. It's the go-to automatic for late-game goons and shows up in the hands of Vito Scaletta, Roman "The Butcher" Barbieri, and Alvarez. If you haven't unlocked the Stromer yet, this is your best automatic option.

One community note: the Sign of the Times DLC rewards a variant called the Black Sacrament, which is the same rifle with a different paint job and improved stability. Cosmetic, but the stability boost is real.

Sniper Rifles for Racket Enforcers

Racket Enforcers are the toughest regular enemies you'll face, and snipers let you delete them before they close distance. All scoped weapons share the same reticle, which is a small shortcut on the developer's part.

The Hawk 4540 Night Vision is the prize here. It's semi-auto only, but it hits harder and more accurately than the standard M14 — the tradeoff is a slower reload. Vito hands it over after the fifth racket takeover.

Machine Guns and Launchers

The M60 (Hartmann 7.62) is the only true machine gun you can carry, and it's a beast. You first use one during the prologue's Federal Reserve robbery, and you can get your own as Vito's final racket favor or early in Stones Unturned. Its ammo refills from dropped SMGs and assault rifles, so you'll rarely run dry.

Launchers are situational but fun:

The M72 LAW is a single-shot disposable, so treat it as a panic button for vehicles or clustered enemies.

Throwables and Explosives

• Molotov Cocktail — your first throwable, and the most common enemy throwable
• M67 Frag Grenade — unlocked with the first tier of the "IRA Bomber" perk
• C4 — deployable charges come with the second tier of "IRA Bomber"
• M15 Anti-Tank Mine — added in Stones Unturned

The IRA Bomber perk line is worth investing in early if you like controlling space in firefights. Grenades and Molotovs let you flush enemies out of cover without exposing yourself.

Practical Loadout Advice

Based on how the ammo system works, here's what actually performs well:

• Stealth racket clearing: Silenced M1N8 + Skorpion or a suppressed pistol
• Aggressive assault: Stromer .223 + Lupara
• Long-range Enforcer hunting: Hawk 4540 Night Vision + any reliable pistol
• All-purpose late game: Pasadena AR30 + Masterson Phoenix

Because automatic weapons share one ammo pool, running an SMG and an assault rifle is wasteful. Pick one automatic and back it with a revolver or shotgun in your sidearm slot.

For a broader look at the game itself, the official Mafia III page on 2K's site covers the base game and Definitive Edition content.

Frequently Asked Questions