The M4A1 Carabine
I Hope You Enjoy!
IntroductionHey Losers, its me, DracoX872, with another guide but this time on the M4A1 Assault Rifle. As you can see, most of the guide is similar in appearance to my Vector guide. Actually, I am just building off of it, you can currently see it at the bottom. BTW, I was just kidding about the losers thing. Wait no I wasn't... JK lol. Anyways someone *cough* Notorious *cough* *cough* decided they don't want to make a good guide with colors... pretty colors so I decided to make my own. I realize some of you may be disappointed that both guides will look sorta the same, but deal with it. Its not like there's anyone else spending as much time on their guides as me.
Anyways, here's the guide!
Index
- What is the M4A1 Carbine?
- Terms
- Statistics
- Attachments
- Perks
- Classes
- Tactics
- Conclusion
- Additional tips
What is the M4A1?
The M4 carbine is a family of firearms tracing its lineage back to earlier carbine versions of the M16, all based on the original AR-15 made by ArmaLite. It is a shorter and lighter version of the M16A2 assault rifle, with 80% parts commonality. The M4 has selective fire options including semi-automatic and three-round burst (like the M16A2), while the M4A1 has a "full auto" option in place of the three-round burst.
Design
The M4/M4A1 5.56mm carbine is a gas-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed, selective fire, shoulder-fired weapon with a telescoping stock. A shortened variant of the M16A2 rifle with a 14.5 in (368 mm) barrel, the M4 provides the individual soldier operating in close quarters the capability to engage targets at extended range with accurate, lethal fire. The original M4 has semi-automatic and three-round burst fire modes, while the M4A1 has "semi" and "full auto", with no three-round burst. The M4 has over 80% commonality with the M16A2 rifle and was intended to replace the .45 ACP M3 submachine guns and selected M9 pistols and M16 rifle series with most Army units (this plan was thought to be changed with the development of the XM29 OICW and the XM8 carbine. However, both projects were canceled). The M4 is also capable of mounting an M203 grenade launcher, the M203A1 with a 9-inch barrel as opposed to the standard 12-inch barrel of the M203 used on the M16 series of rifle.
Some features of the M4 and M4A1 compared to a full-length M16-series rifle include:
* Compact size
* Shortened barrel 14.5 in (368 mm)
* Telescoping buttstock
However, there have been some criticisms of the carbine, such as lower muzzle velocities and louder report due to the shorter barrel, additional stress on parts because of the shorter gas system, and a tendency to overheat faster than the M16A2.
The M4A1 Variant History and Information
M4A1
The M4A1 carbine is a fully-automatic variant of the basic M4 carbine intended for special operations use. The M4A1 has a "S-1-F" (safe/semi-automatic/fully automatic) trigger group, while the M4 has a "S-1-3" (safe/semi-automatic/3-round burst) trigger group. The M4A1 is used by almost all U.S special operation units. The M4A1 is especially favored by counter-terrorist and special forces units for close quarters combat because of the carbine's compactness and firepower. These features are also very useful in urban warfare. Although the M4 has less effective range than the longer M16, many military analysts consider engagement with a non-specialized small arm above a range of 300 meters (330 yd) to be unnecessary. It is effective at ranges of 150 meters (160 yd) or less and has a maximum effective range of about 500 to 600 meters (550–660 yd).
In the last few years, M4A1 carbines have been refit or received straight from factory with barrels with a thicker profile under the handguard. This is for a variety of reasons such as heat dissipation, which is useful due to the complaints of high-heat production from test soldiers, which occurs during full-auto and accuracy as a byproduct of barrel weight. These heavier barrel weapons are also fitted with a heavier buffer known as the H2. Out of three sliding weights inside the buffer, the H2 possesses two tungsten weights and one steel weight, versus the standard H buffer, which uses one tungsten weight and two steel weights. These weapons, known by Colt as the Model 921HB (for Heavy Barrel), have also been designated M4A1, and as far as the government is concerned the M4A1 represents both the 921 and 921HB.
-Wikipedia
Statistics
The M4 is a pretty average weapon when it comes to damage. It does 30 damage at close range and 20 at long range but makes up for it in fire rate. Many players chose the ACR over the M4 because it has no recoil. Truth is, both have recoil... the same amount actually. The ACR's sights just are a lot more friendly and it has lower fire rate. The M4's advantage is that it allows you to switch from your secondary weapon to the M4 quicker than you can with the ACR. Another difference is the ACR has greater range. Overall, the M4 is meant to be more of a close-medium ranged version of the ACR due to its SMG like stats.
Useful Stats:
(Long Range= After Damage Drops off to 20)
Damage Output per Clip (30 rounds)= 900 Damage at Close Range to 600 Damage at Long Range and with Extended Magazines: 1,350 Damage at Close Range and 900 Damage at Long Range
Damage Output per Second(800 rounds per minute)= 390 Damage at Close Range to 260 Damage at Long Range
Amount of Sustained Fire= 2.175 Seconds with Regular Mags and 2.925 Seconds with Extended Mags
Clips Needed To Take Out UAV or Counter-UAV in Air= 1.16 Clips/ 35 Bullets
Time Needed To Kill at Close Range (all bullets must hit and measured using time taken between bullets)= 0.075 seconds before next bullet and 4 bullets fired= 3*0.075= 0.225 of a Second and 0.15 of a Second with Stopping Power
Time Needed To Kill at Long Range (all bullets must hit and measured using time taken between bullets)= 0.375 of a Second and 0.225 of a Second with Stopping Power
Time Saved By Reload Canceling= 1.45 Seconds When Clip Fully Empty and 1 Second When Clip Partially Empty
Bullets to Kill with Stopping Power vs. Without= 3-4 vs. 4-5 Stopping Power Saves 0.075th of a Second
Visuals
This sub-section contains screen-shots I took in-game of my M4. Click on them to enlarge them.
This picture shows the hip-fire radius of the M4 while standing. When you shoot, the radius, obviously, increases.
This is a picture of the M4's iron sights. They're basically a hole with a thin, isosceles triangle in the middle. The sight is pin-point accurate, and, like all weapons, when you miss, its your fault. The gun is accurate. You just didn't aim properly or just shot while there was recoil. No matter the case, where ever the sight is aiming, the first bullet will always land there.
This screen-shot shows the muzzle flash of the M4. Notice its bright and makes the wall/ target difficult to see. When actually shooting someone, your best bet is to take a few shots, see if you got the 100 or 50 points for killing him, and take another burst if he's not dead. Nearly all people will only have to take 2 bursts, so the muzzle flash isn't that big of a problem.
This last picture is of the recoil of the M4. I shot 2 mags from the area I was in the previous picture (the one showing the muzzle flash) and walked up to the wall where I shot. I didn't move my aim or fire in bursts. I just held down the fire button and fired fully auto. As you can see, the M4's recoil isn't that bad. It's actually pretty low. Notice that the middle of it all, its "black". That shows that the most number of bullets hit that area. Firing fully auto, though a bad idea, can still force out pretty accurate shots. I recently edited the old image and created this new one. This GIF shows where bullets hit the most and the spread of it. The first frame shows where the most bullets hit, and the last shows the area where M4 bullets will always stay in/ hit. The Blue outline shows the shape of the area where the bullets landed, its size, and basically how accurate the M4 is.
Attachments
For This Section, I will use a Scale from 1 to 4.
1- Horrible
2- Not Good
3- Okay
4- Great
ACOG- ACOG is surprisingly a pretty good attachment for the M4. It allows you to make more accurate shots, actually benefit from opposing EMPs, and still do well at medium range if used properly. One problem is its nearly impossible to do well at close range and the ACOG scope has a knack for making itself difficult to aim with at close range. The ACOG's zoom does actually help a lot when you're trying to use and get kills with an M4 on a large map, but the other sights are getting the way. The M4 barely has that much recoil so the only thing that may get in your way when shooting at medium to long range is the muzzle flash. When firing full auto with this attachment, the brightness of the muzzle flash tends to get in the way of the yellow dot in the middle. shooting in half second bursts seem to be the best way to deal with the flash other than equipping silencer. All in all, this is an amazing attachment for the M4 in more ways than one. 3/4
Grenade Launcher- The grenade launcher is an interesting attachment. It shoots grenades following projectile motion and has its own reticule. The grenade launcher makes you use the iron sights of the M4 which are, in my opinion, not very good due to the crazy amount of muzzle flash the M4 has. The iron sights are still, very accurate. Back on topic... The grenade launcher helps a lot more in objective games rather than TDM. For example, some one is capturing your flag on domination. You shoot a grenade there. Boom. You get a kill and some extra exp for defending. Still the grenade launcher is a pretty cheap weapon and though I advise you not to use it, it's still a good attachment. 3/4
Extended Magazines- This attachment is purely based on how bad your aim is and how many enemies you're facing. Say there's a room with a couple people just waiting to kill you. Obviously, you're gonna get owned if you have to reload while they're shooting you, so this attachment may save your butt in that situation. Other than that, having OMD (obsessive missing disorder is the only other time you're gonna need this attachment. On the M4, an accurate weapon with an average fire rate and good amount of bullets in the clip, you won't need this attachment. 2/4
FMJ- FMJ isn't a game changer, on all guns. Really, the only thing it can do is double bullet damage when you shoot through surfaces. Interesting fact: when shooting through surfaces with FMJ, your bullets can actually go over the damage they regularly do. See, different surfaces have different penetration values. Concrete for example is very high, regular walls are high, wood is medium, thin metal is low, and glass is zero. Only on certain surfaces will bullets go over their regular damage with FMJ. I've tested this out on COD4 a few years back and found some surfaces allow for 1 shot kills with an M4 with Deep Impact (needs to be a bullet in the head with stopping power); getting a head shot with stopping power on the M4 with Deep Impact regularly (not through a surface) does only 58.8 damage. If you didn't already know this, FMJ does the same exact thing deep impact does. Now you know. Overall, I don't think you really need this attachment on the M4. Its got only 35 damage and its accurate, so its much easier to take those accurate shots than attempt to spray through surfaces. 2/4
Holographic Sight- Definitely another attachment based on personal choice. If you really need the Holographic sight, go ahead. The problem with it is that its somewhat obtrusive and put further back on the weapons railing. Though this will allow you to use your peripheral vision even when aiming down the sight, its harder to take down people at longer ranges. Also, it makes the M4 shoot this weird circular recoil thing. Seriously, its plain weird and unlike the M4's original recoil. Though there are all these disadvantages to this sight, I personally seem to do pretty well with it. 3/4
Heartbeat Sensor- This attachment seems to be more of a camper thing. People/ Campers regularly use this to detect when others are coming. The main problem is that this attachment is rendered obsolete due to the insane amount of ninja users. However, it can still be used pretty well when you're on the front lines and you need to know who's coming. Having a HBS reduces the chance people will catch you off-guard and will help you surprise enemies. The HBS, however, is a pretty tough thing to use as the crescent shape scanner isn't very useful in finding enemy's exact locations and will sometimes lead to you getting killed. A great tactic to use with the HBS is doing a 180 on its scan. By doing so, you'll get a Heart beat scan of everyone around you. Though their dot will be messed up and smudged, you'll still know that they're there and you can wait for the next scan. The best way to use the Heartbeat sensor with the M4 is to defend or guard an area like the large house in the middle of Derail. Every once in a while, you can do a scan and see if anyone is coming and continue racking up kills with the M4s long range capabilities without fear of being flanked. As long as you don't use it for camping, this attachment will suit your needs well. 3/4
Red Dot Sight- Another attachment based on personal preference. I myself like this sight the best. It combines the ACOG s long-range deadliness with the Holographic sight's closer range abilities. Really, its more of a combination of the two. I'm going to say this shortly and spicely (if thats a word). This is one of the best attachments you could have for the M4. 4/4
Silencer- The M4 is a great stealth weapon most of the time. One of the best ways to use a silenced M4 is go prone in an inconspicuous area and take deadly shots. By doing so, you won't reveal your position, and you'll be able to get tons of kills. Going closer up with the M4 is not the best idea. Against other assault rifles? Yes. Against sub machine guns? No No No. The best part about the silencer is that it reduces muzzle flash a LOT. As you saw in the picture under the statistics section, there's a lot of flash on the M4 making shooting people down at longer ranges a lot harder. The silencer also seems to reduce recoil to only vertical recoil or it could just be me. Overall, this attachment is a great lone and dual attachment for the M4. 3.5/4
Thermal- I really do not like the thermal on nearly all assault rifles. The only assault rifles this attachment will do well with is the M4 and ACR. Both have low recoil and are suited well for long range. Though that's true, Thermal is a much better attachment for snipers. Another thing is that thermal only turns the background "black" and "black". It doesn't color them based on heat. For example, like players, snow glows "black" hot. What's wrong with that??? The thermal scope isn't really the attachment you'll want to use on an AR mainly due to the fact that its better suited for snipers and it makes killing at medium range much harder. 2/4
Perks
In this section, I'll be going over all the perks and how they do with the M4. They'll be rated the same way attachments were rated. All perks will be thought of as Pro Versions of themselves.
Tier 1:
Sleight of Hand- Sleight of Hand is not exactly the perk you'll need for an assault rifle. It saves time reloading and ADS time, both of which are pretty average for the M4. It needs neither of those as its a pretty well rounded weapon. Though some may want Sleight of Hand due to its ability to increase ADS speed, its really not needed that much, and neither is faster reload for that case. Overall, this perk is absolutely useless for the M4. 1.0000000000001/4
Scavenger: Scavenger is a great perk for the M4. It allows you to keep it in action for a much longer or infinite amount of time. The M4, though starting off with a good amount of bullets, burns through its ammo pretty quickly due to its average damage and medium high fire rate. Scavenger also helps a lot when you need to keep up a constant supply of equipment and special grenades. The only disadvantage to this perk is that its a complete waste if one tends to die a lot. 3/4
Marathon: Marathon is an okay perk for the M4. I've seen many people use this perk online and they didn't exactly do that well. On an average class set up, this isn't going to be the perk you want as the M4 isn't all that great at close rage. However, this perk does help you get closer to the enemy a lot quicker than you could before. Though I use this perk in many of my class examples, its not really an all rounder perk for the M4. 2/4
Bling: Bling is an overall awesome perk for the M4. It has tons of uses, not to mention the fact that it hinders you in no way. Bling allows for many opportune class set-ups letting you do things never possible before. In addition, Bling lets you put on two secondary weapon attachments making the gun you're using to cover up the M4's weaknesses even better. Due to its versatility and ability to open up more possibilities for the M4, this is just a fantastic perk for the M4. 4/4
One Man Army: This is a pretty arguable perk. It allows you to change classes on the fly, which in turn allows you to adapt to situations anytime anywhere. The biggest problem of this perk is that it takes away your secondary weapon. This means at closer ranges, you're gonna be on your own with the M4. Though it lets you use different weapons for different situations, its disadvantage is way to great to overcome its advantages. Also, the M4 is a pretty all rounded weapon meaning you shouldn't even have the need to switch. Overall 2/4
Tier 2:
Lightweight: This perk allows you to run about 8 to 10% faster than you usually could. On the M4, its not really needed that much though. Unless your using the infamous MLC class, it'll do you no good. Being able to run faster is only useful at certain times and those certain times barely ever occur. Even the ability to aim down your sights faster after sprinting isn't that useful for the M4 and basically all ARs alike. So.. Well.. yea.. 1/4
Stopping Power: This reduces the M4s 3-5 bullet kill into a 3-4 bullet kill. This perk will greatly help you out at long to medium range, where you'll be using the M4 the most. Sadly, since it doesn't affect your kill game that much, its not needed so badly. The pro-version of this perk allows you to do greater damage to vehicles. Though many don't notice this, helicopters, harriers, UAVs, and Counter-Uavs all count as vehicles. The main area you'll be taking advantage of this is shooting down UAVs and Counter UAVs which are a big help to your team. Though they may result in a death, it will save your team countless amounts of points and get you an extra 100. Overall, its a pretty good perk for the everyday player. 4/4
Hardline: Hardline lets you get your kill streak 1 kill faster than you usually could. As quoted by Blame Truth, I believe, "Getting a Predator missile on a 4 kill streak is beyond me..." Hardline helps those players who just can't seem to rack up kills. It also allows you to keep up a constant supply of UAV's through 2 kill streaks. Also, its Pro Version allows you to get your death streak a death faster as well. This means getting redemption is much much quicker and great for those sucky players. Overall, this perk is what you'll want to chose if you don't know what you want to use. 3/4
Cold-Blooded: This is just based on personal preference. Being able to fake a dead body is extremely useful at times. It will allow you to get tons of kills without even being noticed at all. Its main ability, being invisible to Thermal, Air Support, Kill Streaks, and UAV helps a lot, but again on personal preference and the class you are using. Say you have a stinger as a secondary. Cold-Blooded is a great perk to use as you can take any air support out on the go. Say you have One Man Army as a secondary. Both of Cold Blooded's abilities end up useless/ pointless. Also, being able to not show up in UAVs is a lot more selfish than just shooting the enemies UAV down for your entire team. Overall, this perk has a low amount of benefits and just doesn't go well with the M4. 2/4
Danger Close: Using the M4 with Grenade Launcher isn't the most Pro idea, but it is useful on objective based games. Getting that across the map kill is always nice too. Really, this perk depends on the class you have. When using this perk, always rememmber to put on the Grenade Launcher for the M4 or there isn't much of a use for it. Danger Close's pro ability to increase air support damage is really useful when using something like a predator missile as it allows you to get multiple kills. Also, if you didn't know this already, everything an aircraft does is refered to as air support damage by the game. This includes bullets coming from the craft's guns. For example, just 1 bullet from a chopper gunner is death. In short, the more Boom Boom you got the more usefulness this perk has. 2/4 with no GL or Explosive Equipment, 3/4 with only Explosive Equipment or only Grenade Launcher, and 4/4 with GL and Explosive Equipment
Tier 3:
Okay, this section will be a bit brief because there are a lot of green perks and they don't have a large effect on game play. Not larger than the 2d perk for the most part.
Ninja: Flanking is a great way to rack up kills and this perk will help you do it. Not showing up on Heartbeat sensors is a great advantage as well. As long as you are flanking, this perk will be used to its fullest. 3/4
Commando: The 50% increase in knife lunge range proves to be extremely useful at close range situations. Also being able to attempt suicide and survive is not only depressing, but a great tool for hunting people down or quick get-aways. This perk is pretty useful and great on every map, every gun, and every situation. 4/4
Scrambler: This perk is completely situational. See the "Classes" section for classes using this perk to get a better understanding of how to use it correctly. How you use this is everything. Its a double edged sword if you don't use it properly or a long point rapier if you do use it correctly (remember rapiers can still poke your eyes out if used without full understanding) Overall, due to people using this perk incorrectly it receives a bad mention as a perk. 2/4
SitRep: This perk is best when one is camping behind enemy lines. It multiplies all foot steps 4 times the original volume as well as make you and your teammates foot steps quieter (only to you) to help you hear enemy foot steps better. Being able to see claymores, tactical insertions and c4s is a great ability but only when the enemy is using them. 3/4
Steady Aim: Steady Aim won't help that much for the M4. Even though it reduces your hip fire radius to only 65% of its original size, it will still pops up bigger when you shoot. Not to mention its secondary version is only useful to snipers or when you are using your thermal scope which you shouldn't be. Overall, its pretty useless. 1/4
Last Stand: Last stand noob!!! 1/4000000
Classes
All perks are expected to be Pro-Version
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Name: Front Lines
Primary Weapon: M4A1 with Heartbeat Sensor and Holographic Sight
Secondary Weapon: Thumper
Equipment: Semtex
Special Grenade: Flashes
Perk 1: Bling
Perk 2: Stopping Power
Perk 3: Commando
The basic idea of this class is to get on the front lines, stay behind cover, slowly advance, and get kills. Use heartbeat sensor to find people before the surprise you and holographic sight allows you to see your heartbeat sensor even when looking through it. It also allows you to perform much better at close range. Use the Thumper when the heartbeat sensor shows multiple enemies. Commando is another tool to help you take down people after you find them with your heartbeat sensor. Finally, use your flashes to give you an advantage before you rush into a group of enemies
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Name: All Rounder
Primary Weapon: M4A1 with Red Dot
Secondary Weapon: G18 Akimbos
Equipment: Semtex
Special Grenade: Stuns
Perk 1: Scavenger
Perk 2: Stopping Power
Perk 3: Steady Aim
This class should basically explain itself. Red Dot will help you with your aim, G18s help at close range, and the M4 in this case is a medium range gun. Use scavenger to keep up your supply of stuns and Semtex and use both before entering an area. The G18, though nooby, is a great high power machine pistol that doesn't take that much time to switch too and can take down multiple people.
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Name: Rusher
Primary Weapon: M4A1 with Red Dot
Secondary Weapon: Striker with Grip
Equipment: Blast Shield
Special Grenade: Flashes
Perk 1: Sleight of Hand
Perk 2: Lightweight
Perk 3: Ninja
Rushing is simply going straight at the enemy and taking them out quick. With this class you'll want to use M4 when your coming toward the enemy or a hot spot and then quickly switch to your striker when near the enemies. The striker basically allows you to blind the enemies due to the high amount of muzzle flash it puts out. In addition, you'll to travel the edges of the map and sprint as much as possible to where you need to go. When some one is seen, quickly go prone, aim down the sites (which should take less than 0.1 of a second) and fire. The blast shield is to mainly protect you from claymores and tubers, both of which you'll encounter when rushing. Ninja will keep you hidden from people with Turtle beaches and heartbeat sensors.
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Name: Invisible Sword
Primary Weapon: M4A1 with Silencer
Secondary Weapon: M9 or USP .45 with Tac knife
Equipment: Tactical Insertion
Special Grenade: Stuns
Perk 1: Marathon
Perk 2: Cold-Blooded
Perk 3: Ninja
An interesting class for most objective games. The idea here is to get behind enemy lines as fast as possible while holding a tac knife just in case and planting a tactical insertion in a hidden area. Once that's done go wreak havoc with the M4. Make sure to get kills from a distance as I can't tell you the amount of times I've been killed right after I knife somebody. If the enemy team gets UAV, get as close to their spawn area as possible and play dead by switching between both your weapons as quickly as possible. You'll look like a dead body and because of Cold-Blooded, your name won't show up when they aim at you. Once the enemy team is done spawning, take a few of them out using the M4A1 or even take them all out by using the Tactical Knife. BTW, I took the name Invisible Sword from one of my favorite spy books.
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Name: Mantis
Primary Weapon: M4A1 with Heartbeat Sensor and Silencer
Secondary Weapon: M9 or USP .45 with Tac knife and Silencer
Equipment: Blast Shield
Special Grenade: Flashes
Perk 1: Bling
Perk 2: Cold-Blooded
Perk 3: Scrambler
I'm already guessing that you're wondering how this class will work out in anyway. Well I'll explain it to you step by step. Firstly, there's scrambler. Scrambler is used to pull enemies toward you as many try to find the source of their jammed radar. Then, there's cold-blooded. Cold-blooded is again, used to play dead. Heartbeat sensor is to help you find the enemy before he tracks down your scrambler. Silencer is to help keep you hidden from others. Blast shield helps keep you safe from those who spam tubes whenever their radar gets scrambled, and flashes are to cause panic. The basic idea of this class is to get enemies to come towards you after they see their radar. Heartbeat sensor will help you find them before they find you. While this occurs, your going to need to stay hidden from UAV and eyesight by switching your weapons rapidly to imitate a dead body. Though on your screen you'll see your weapons going up and down, they'll just see a body with an arm on its back. Once a good amount of people come, use a flash and blind them all. Then take them out with your M4 or your USP. Overall, a pretty fun class.
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Name: Long Range Support
Primary Weapon: M4A1 with ACOG
Secondary Weapon: SPAS-12 with Grip
Equipment: Claymores
Special Grenade: Smokes
Perk 1: Scavenger
Perk 2: Hard Line
Perk 3: Steady Aim
This class is all about getting low kill streaks and helping your team out for 99% of the game. The idea is to basically use ACOG in order to take out people at long range with ease while using Scavenger to keep up your ammo supply of claymores. Also, your kill streak set up should be UAV, Counter-UAV and Harrier. I realize many of you think there's no need for Counter-UAV but it actually makes a large difference. This set up will ensure that your team will always have UAV and Counter-UAV as long as you get a 3 kill streak every once in a while. If somebody tries to flank you or your team, they'll either get killed by the claymores or your SPAS. Lastly, the smoke is to keep your claymores hidden as well as create distractions. Overall, though you may not be that great with ACOG, you don't have to be with this class.
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Name: The Demo Man
Primary Weapon: M4A1 with Grenade Launcher
Secondary Weapon: Magnums Akimbo
Equipment: C4
Special Grenade: Stuns
Perk 1: Scavenger
Perk 2: Danger Close
Perk 3: Steady Aim
The Demo Man is another support class except your a lot closer to the enemy. Use your Grenade launcher to blow up stuff and get tons of kills. Scavenger will keep up your supply and Magnums are for close range. If anyone is getting close, you can quickly switch to them and take somewhat accurate hip-fire shots with Steady aim. Use C4 on Objectives such as a Domination Flag. When you hear that your flag or bomb is being planted, just blow it up and it'll create a huge explosion and confuse the enemy.
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Name: All Pro
Primary Weapon: M4A1 with Red Dot
Secondary Weapon: M1014 Grip
Equipment: Semtex
Special Grenade: Stuns
Perk 1: Scavenger
Perk 2: Stopping Power
Perk 3: Commando
This is the last and best class in my opinion. Its a pretty familiar set up and has relatively the same stuff All Rounder has. The M1014 and Commando are the only differences. The M1014 helps a lot at close ranges where shotguns are the name of the game and can take down multiple enemies due to its semi-auto fire. Commando is the other difference. If you're good enough with the M4, you won't really need Steady Aim all that much and could trade it off for an awesome perk like this. With this class you'll also be pushing toward enemy lines and you'll be fleeing as well. Both situations where commando could help, not to mention the M1014.
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If you're new to the M4 I personally recommend that you use the All Rounder class as its a very easy class to use and won't fail you
Tactics/ Additional Tips
Okay admit it. You think the M4 is completly obsolete in the face of higher lvl weapons. Is what you think true? Partially. Almost like how the FAMAS is to the M16, the M4 is to the ACR. M16 is the better weapon and more used, but FAMAS is just freakin awesome! And unlocked at a lower level. ACR is more used than M4 but M4, is plain AWESOME!!! Back on topic... You've probably have had a rough day with the M4, hackers, and this game and you're over here looking to get some tips that will make you absoltutly pwn everything in your sight. That... is not gonna happen. Getting better with the M4 is all about your experrience with it. The more you use it, the better you'll get with it. So if you want to get better, keep on using it. I once said to myself, "What's the point if I keep using the M4 badly. I'm not going to get better, just keep getting owned..." And thats why I wrote this guide. To put you back on the right track with the M4.
How To Do Well With The M4A1
Hi people who skip to the end of guides and those who actually read it, here's the section where I help you start owning with the M4. As you can see, there are, again, bulleted tips on getting better. Truly, nobody wants to read an entire paragraph on the M4 so tips are much easier. They won't really be in any order. Just read through them if you are having a bad day or just can't use the M4 correctly.
- Stay out of the Fray- The M4 will not work to its fullest at close range most of the time. Staying out of the fray basically means, don't be in the middle of things, where the war is, inside a hotspot, etc. You never want to be caught moving around with the M4. When you are walking around, switch to your secondary. 99% of the time your going to end up in a close range encounter rather than a mid to long range encounter. The best way to use the M4 is to hang out back in a nice location where you can see and cover a lot of area. For example, the large house in Estate or even either of the Garages. In short, try not to be up in people's grill when using the M4. (Okay, I pulled that one off badly)
- Aim First, Fire Later- The M4 isn't one of those weapons where your going to need fire rate and damage to kill *cough* *cough* Tar Scrubs *cough*. The M4 still has recoil and moving the M4s sights around while firing can be hectic and will probably get you killed in the process. If anything, you'll want to take a good clean burst at your opponent rather than spraying wildly.
- Hold Down The Trigger- I don't know if this is a complete contradiction but anyways... Holding down the trigger is what's going to get you kills if some of your bullets miss. For example, you're aiming down the hall way in Skidrow from the stairs leading into the building into the middle. Some one immediately starts rushing down the hall way at you and running in zig-zags. I've been through this situation time and again. Instead of moving your aim to follow him, just hold down your trigger. The M4's fire rate and nice clip size won't fail you. Also, the M4 has a knack for having recoil that makes its bullets land in a circle. (See recoil pictures in the Statistics-Visuals section). Unless you hold down that trigger, you're not going to get that kill. Its really hard to explain, but a steady stream of fire at a person is a lot more deadly than bursting and seeing if they're dead. I had a lot of experiences getting like 3 bullets on someone and needing 4 more, but by that time they ran away. Just hold down the trigger after you aimed people!
- Do Not Shoot From The Hip- Shooting from the hip or "hip-fire" is one of the worst things you could do with the M4. Its an Assault Rifle! Unless you're in a situation where you have no other choice, which is impossible because you could just knife them, you never shoot from the hip. And that goes back to having steady aim. You shouldn't have steady aim at all unless you require it for your secondary weapon.
- Aim at the Chest- When shooting, you always want to aim at the enemies chest as it is the biggest target and easiest to hit, therefore. Shooting at the head is not the best idea as the M4s low recoil can still cause your aim to go off. Since the recoil is circular-ish (again, see Statistics- Visuals and picture with bullet holes), the chest will always get hit the most. Head shots make the lowest amount of bullets to kill 4 and with stopping power, they make it 3. Both numbers are still a high amount for head shots. I can't really say much more on this as it is kind of obvious.
- Don't Confront Multiple Enemies- The M4 cannot handle more than 2 enemies. It can barely handle 2 anyway! If there are two enemies and they both see you, you're only option is to get behind cover or kill one of them and die. You shouldn't be in a situation like that anyway. Other than that, you can always flash or stun the enemies as long as one of them isn't looking. That way, one of them you can kill easily and the other won't be able to turn around and see you. By then, you should have killed him.
- Change to Your Secondary Often- Most Assault Rifles (with Tar being an exception) can't handle/ do much at close range, and one of these assault rifles is the M4. Though you'll be playing at medium range most often, you're still going to need to survive in close-range encounters and the only way to do that is get in close range encounters. Its either kill or be killed and staying and hanging back can be dangerous without claymores or sitrep; both of these you probably don't have equipped. So you'll want to switch to your secondary weapon and use it as if it were your primary. For example, switch to your spas and start getting closer to the enemy. Or switch to your Javelin and start taking out UAVs and Jav-Bombing hot spots. Whatever the case, don't always use M4 in every situation.
- Pick Up Other Weapons- Every once in a while, the M4 will be totally useless in some situations. For example, I was on Afghan and there were some people in the cave that were shooting me, I was in the Bunker. I quickly picked up an Intervention and shot those 3 people dead. I couldn't have done it with my regular M4 w/ Red Dot Sight. I know some people feel ashamed to pick up another persons weapon off the floor when yours is completely fine (I know I do), but its totally okay. For the M4, some of the best weapons to pick up with it include the Intervention, G18s, most shotguns, and I guess SMGs are okay sometimes.
Conclusion
The M4 totally rapes. No more questions. Shhhhh...
-Draco Out
Sergeant I
The M4A1, A Guide For
COD4
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Originally Posted by Nightmare1337
