The Best Weapons in GTA 5 Story Mode

GTA 5 hands you a deep arsenal from Ammu-Nation, but you do not need most of it. A small core loadout handles the entire campaign, and a few specialist tools cover the rest. Here are the weapons worth your money and your weapon-wheel slots in story mode.

The workhorse: Carbine Rifle

The Carbine Rifle is the best all-rounder in the game: accurate, controllable, with a large magazine and enough range for almost every mission. Buy it early, attach a suppressor and extended clip, and it becomes your default for the back half of the story. If you only fully kit out one gun, make it this.

Close range: Pump Shotgun or Assault Shotgun

For interiors and ambushes, the Pump Shotgun one-shots most enemies up close and is cheap. If you want more capacity, the Assault Shotgun trades a little per-shot power for a fast-firing drum that clears rooms in seconds. Either belongs on your wheel for heist interiors and gang fights.

Sidearm: Pistol .50 or AP Pistol

A strong pistol covers the moments you get caught reloading. The Pistol .50 hits like a hand cannon with huge per-shot damage, while the AP Pistol trades power for a very high fire rate and is great from vehicles. Pick based on whether you want stopping power or spray.

Long range: Sniper Rifle (and Heavy Sniper)

Several missions reward picking enemies off from distance. The standard Sniper Rifle with a scope handles most of it; the Heavy Sniper is the upgrade you want for the heist set-pieces and for shooting out vehicles and helicopters in one or two rounds.

Heavy tools: RPG, Grenade Launcher, Minigun

For the big chaotic finales and free-roam mayhem, keep an RPG for vehicles and helicopters, a Grenade Launcher for crowds, and, if you can afford it, the Minigun for the moments you just need overwhelming sustained fire. You will not use these often in regular missions, but when a mission throws armor or aircraft at you, they end it fast.

A practical loadout

The clean four-weapon core for the whole campaign: Carbine Rifle (primary), Pump or Assault Shotgun (close range), Pistol .50 or AP Pistol (sidearm), and a Sniper for distance. Add the RPG before any mission with vehicles or aircraft. Upgrade your most-used guns at Ammu-Nation with suppressors, extended clips and scopes, because the handling improvements are worth more than owning every weapon.

A note on weapon stats

Each gun has damage, fire rate, accuracy, range and clip-size stats you can compare at Ammu-Nation before buying. The picks above balance those numbers for general play; if a specific mission demands stealth or pure range, lean into suppressors and the Heavy Sniper accordingly.