Base on a comment chain on /r/TarkovMemes I wanted to see if leveling up a weapon group will increase the speed of reloading. I thought it was plausible.
The TLDR answer is no, it's the exact same speed with a few asterisks. It only adds the ability to reload while ADS
Read on for the details:
In the I found this:
"In Escape from Tarkov the handling of weapons can be trained through active use. In short, the more you use a certain weapon, the more skilled you become with it.
Depending on the weapon, reaching level 2 or level 3 will provide new reload animations. Level 3 grants the ability to reload while aiming down sights for all weapons.
Variants of a weapon family share the same mastery. You can see which guns are connected and how much EXP each level requires below."
I wanted to see if this new animation will affect the speed of reloading. The results are the weapon level makes zero difference in reloading speed. It just gives you the ability to reload while ADS, but the speed is the same. The skills that affect reloading are the Assault Weapons skill (up to +20%) and Mag Drill(up to +25%) skills.
I used only the Colt M4. I have a a Bravo scope on the top and red dot on the Aiming NcStar MPR45 Backup mount down the barrel. I am only reloading full mags for consistency. I give each test 3 reloads to see where the average is. The timer starts as soon as I get the R key and ends when the gun is back at the normal resting position.
Test Process: to aim at a target, shoot one round, reload, and wait for the scope to be back on the target. The timer will start when the R key is pressed and stops as soon as the reticule is reasonably back on target.
Here are my results:
Test 1 – Mag drill skill: 0 | Assault Rifle skill: 0 | 5.56 family level: 1 (0 skill)
2.83s | 2.72s | 2.75s
Test 2 – Mag drill skill: 0 | Assault Rifle skill: 0 | 5.56 family level: 2 (1001 skill)
2.76s | 2.82s | 2.74s
Test 3 Mag drill skill: 0 | Assault Rifle skill: 0 | 5.56 family level: 3 (4000 skill)
2.76s | 2.83s | 2.79s
Test 4 Mag drill skill: max | Assault Rifle skill: max | 5.56 family level: 3 (4000 skill)
2.46s | 2.53s | 2.46s
Final note:
The "drop mag reload" action has been rebound to Insert instead of the default "R + double press". I didn't want this to affect the test.
Reloading while looking through the main bravo scope is the exact same time as not aiming down sight. I did find the backup mount with a red dot added about 0.45s when reloading while aiming down this sight. The reason for this is because I waited for the red dot to align correctly to the target before stopping the timer and this does take longer on the canted mount.
Reloading an empty gun took 0.2s longer to pulling the charge handle. If there is a round in the barrel of the gun, then the ammo level of the mags makes no difference.
The benefit of the weapon level is you dont have to stop aiming to reload but the reload time is the same.
I only tested the Colt M4. I cant say if this is the same for any other weapon but I have a educated guess that this is probably true for all rifles that are mag/drum feed.
This gun does have attachemnts, but the goal is to see if the weapon level changes the reload speed, not if a weapon part changes the reload speed. The attachments stayed in the same configuration for the entire test.
All mags and ammo is the same for every test. 5.56x45mm M856A1 is the ammo I used and 5.56×45 Magpul PMAG GEN M3 W 30 STANAG 30-round magazine (black).
I hope you guys find this interesting.
