With its advanced tower defense, base-building game mechanics, excellent co-op mode, and challenging combat, 7 Days To Die is one of the best zombie survival games out there. This is unsurprising, as the game spent 11 years in early access, being tweaked and perfected.

7 Days To Die Every Rifle, Ranked
7 Days To Die: Every Rifle, Ranked

Rifles are often overlooked by 7 Days To Die players, but they do have some uses, especially in the late-game stage.

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Machine guns are the bread-and-butter weapon for most 7 Days To Die players, filling the role of assault rifles in other games. They have good damage, decent range, manageable recoil, and fair accuracy. They work equally well inside buildings and outside on the open-world map. They are also excellent weapons to be used on a blood moon night.

4 Pipe Machine Gun

The Best Pipe Weapon

Pipe Machine Gun In 7 Days To Die
  • Weapon stats (tier 6):
    • Ranged damage: 37.5
    • Magazine size: 15
    • Rounds per minute: 335
    • Effective range: 34
    • Maximum durability: 200

  • Crafting requirements (tier 5):
    • Short Iron Pipe: 12
    • Glue: 6
    • Wood: 18

The Pipe Machine Gun is the best of the basic pipe weapons in 7 Days To Die. Compared to the pipe pistol, shotgun, and rifle, it is surprisingly capable. Considering how cheap it is to craft, this should be the first ranged weapon a player uses in the game.

7 Days To Die Best Skills For Beginners
7 Days To Die: Best Skills For Beginners

Beginners to 7 Days To Die should concentrate on a simple yet effective build. Here are ideal skills for those just starting out.

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The only downside of using a Pipe Machine Gun in the early game is that 7.62 ammunition is both rare to loot and expensive to craft. That being said, if a player can manage to keep feeding this weapon bullets, it is entirely capable of helping them clear low-level mission POIs.

This is an early-game trader mission runner build. It can either be used as a primary weapon if the player can afford the ammo, or as a backup weapon to something like a melee weapon, such as a club, that can be used to thin out groups of zombies. Note, that it eschews the drum mag, as this will help the player use ammo more efficiently.

  • Muzzle Break Mod (decreased recoil)
  • Reflex Site (great for use indoors)
  • Cripple Em Mod (slows down zombies on hit)
  • Standard 7.62 ammo (the cheapest)

3 AK-47 Machine Gun

Iconic Assault Rifle

AK-47 Machine Gun In 7 Days To Die
  • Weapon stats (tier 6):
    • Ranged damage: 49.9
    • Magazine size: 30
    • Rounds per minute: 360
    • Effective range: 43
    • Maximum durability: 400

  • Crafting requirements (tier 5):
    • Machine gun parts: 5
    • Forged iron: 50
    • Duct Tape: 10
    • Srap Polymers: 50
    • Spring: 10

No zombie survival game is complete without its own take on the venerable AK-47 assault rifle, and 7 Days To Die doesn’t disappoint in this regard. Even though the AK-47 Machine Gun is only considered a second-tier weapon in 7 Days To Die, many players favor it over more advanced options, mimicking real life quite well.

The AK-47 Machine Gun has a great rate of fire but suffers from poor accuracy if fired on full auto. So, short bursts are the order of the day to get the best from this weapon.

This is a general-purpose build, it can be used indoors and outdoors, although it lacks a long-range scope and any form of aimed stabilization.

  • Muzzle Break Mod (decreased recoil)
  • Reflex Site (great for use indoors)
  • Rad Remover Mod (slows down zombies on hit)
  • Drum Magazine Mod (doubles magazine size)
  • Standard 7.62 ammo (the cheapest)

2 Tactical Assault Rifle

Better Fire Control

Tactical Assault Rifle In 7 Days To Die
  • Weapon stats (tier 6):
    • Ranged damage: 66.2
    • Magazine size: 30
    • Rounds per minute: 405
    • Effective range: 51
    • Maximum durability: 700

  • Crafting requirements (tier 5):
    • Machine gun parts: 5
    • Forged iron: 50
    • Duct Tape: 15
    • Srap Polymers: 25
    • Spring: 15

On paper, it would appear that the Tactical Assault Rifle in 7 Days To Die, is a significant upgrade over the AK-47 Machine Gun. But it has an Achilles heel. Out of the box, it only fires in burst mode. In the past, a tier 6 weapon had 6 weapon mod slots, and a full auto mod could be used to overcome this problem. However, this was reduced to a maximum of 4 mods some time back.

However, once a player gets used to only shooting 3 bullets per burst, this is a more precise, controlled assault rifle than the AK-47. It also performs better at range, making it one of the best weapons in the game.

Assault rifles are the Swiss Army knife of ranged weapons, and this means they really suit an all-rounder build, which this is. It improves on the AK-47 with a better scope, though.

  • Muzzle Break Mod (decreased recoil)
  • 2 x Scope (good for indoors and outdoors)
  • Rad Remover Mod (slows down zombies on hit)
  • Drum Magazine Mod (doubles magazine size)

1 M60 Machine Gun

Blood Moon Meat Grinder

M60 Machine Gun In 7 Days To Die
  • Weapon stats (tier 6):
    • Ranged damage: 87.1
    • Magazine size: 60
    • Rounds per minute: 440
    • Effective range: 60
    • Maximum durability: 1100

  • Crafting requirements (tier 5):
    • Machine gun parts: 5
    • Forged iron: 100
    • Duct Tape: 15
    • Srap Polymers: 50
    • Spring: 20

The M60 Machine Gun is the goto, late-game, blood moon weapon. It isn’t quite Puff the Magic Dragon, but it is as close as this game gets to a minigun. With the right mods, it can dish out 100 damage per shot, with a 90-round magazine.

7-Days-To-Die-The-Best-Perks,-Ranked-
7 Days To Die: The Best Perks, Ranked

Picking the right perks will not only make playing 7 Days To Die a lot less stressful, but much more rewarding.

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It can be used within mission POIs as well, especially for level 6 missions that have groups or a couple of dozen zombies, but its slow reload isn’t ideal in this situation. Although it is useful to have it on a player’s button bar to use as a first-strike weapon in this situation in this survival shooter.

This is purely a blood moon build, it is intended to be used whilst aiming down the iron sites (the M60 can’t fit a scope). The idea is to aim at the general level of the heads of a horde of zombies and simply go to town, reloading as needed.

  • Barrel Extender Mod (increased damage but worse recoil and range)
  • Bipod Mod (increased accuracy whilst aiming down sights)
  • Rad Remover Mod (removes zombie radiation effect)
  • Drum Mod (increases magazine by 30)
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7 Days to Die
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Released
June 28, 2016
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Developer(s)
The Fun Pimps
Platform(s)
Linux, macOS, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One
Genre(s)
Survival, Horror
7-Days-to-Die-Screenshots (3)
5 Images