A few weeks ago, I tested movement speed, jump height, shield duration, etc. between Halo 3 and Halo Reach to make a gametype that was reminiscent of Halo 3. On my thread (found here) I mentioned that I also wanted to look at the rate of fire, damage, and other statistics of some guns in Halo 1, 2, and 3.
I decided to just stick to 3 and Reach, seeing as I did the same in my original thread. I looked at the DMR, Needle Rifle, and Magnum from Reach, and I looked at the BR, Carbine, and Magnum from 3. Shown below is the time it takes to empty an entire magazine, the time it takes to get 1 kill (shooting as fast as possible and not missing a shot), the amount of ammo in the magazine, and the number of shots it takes to kill someone.
All tests and changes suggested are based on the TU Zero Bloom playlist.
DMR
of shots in mag: 15
time to empty mag: 5.5s
of shots to kill: 5
time for one kill: 1.833s
Needle Rifle
of shots in mag: 21
time to empty mag: 6.4s
of shots to kill: 6
time for one kill: 1.829s
HR Magnum
of shots in mag: 8
time to empty mag: 1.8s
of shots to kill: 4
time for one kill: 0.9s
Battle Rifle
of shots in mag: 36 (12 bursts)
time to empty mag: 5.5s
of shots to kill: 12 (4 bursts)
time for one kill: 1.833s
Carbine
of shots in mag: 16
time to empty mag: 4.1s
of shots to kill: 8
time for one kill: 2.05s
H3 Magnum
of shots in mag: 8
time to empty mag: 3.3s
of shots to kill: 5
time for one kill: 2.063s
In summary
DMR: I personally feel like this weapon needs little change. The kill time between the BR and DMR is exactly the same, and you can get 3 kills with both guns before reloading again. However, the fact that you aren’t having to worry about all 3 bullets of the burst hitting your target does make the DMR an easier weapon. It also has a much greater range. The only change that I would recommend to the DMR is a x2 scope instead of x3, and just a little bit less aim assist.
Needle Rifle: I’ve heard many people call this gun overpowered. When comparing it to the DMR, statistically, it only has a slight edge in kill time, but the fact that it is also an automatic gun (similar to the CE pistol) does give it an unquestionable advantage over the DMR. In my opinion, the Needle Rifle should be inferior to the DMR, just like the Carbine was inferior to the BR. Making it a 7 shot kill would lead to a slightly slower kill time to the Carbine, which would make it much less "overpowered.
Magnum: With a kill time of less than half of any other automatic weapon, the Magnum is overpowered. There’s no sugar coating it. It needs to be toned down. However, it definitely has its disadvantages. Its accuracy doesn’t come close to the DMR’s, and with only 8 shots in the mag, getting more than 1 kill before reloading is unlikely. The magnum should become a 5 shot weapon again, but even at that a kill only takes 1.125 seconds. In my opinion, its rate of fire should be decreased so that a kill takes 1.5-1.6 seconds. This way, it’ll have an advantage over the DMR to make up for its disadvantages. If it’s weakened too much, it’ll turn into the Halo 3 magnum, and nobody wants that, but as of now, it is overpowered.
TL;DR: DMR is similar to BR, Needle Rifle needs to become 7-shot again, and Magnum is OP.