Extended Mags

For the similar attachment in Call of Duty: Black Ops, see Dual Mags.

Extended Mags (shortened from "Extended Magazines") is an optional attachment available in Call of Duty: World at War, Modern Warfare 2, and Call of Duty: Black Ops. This attachment is essentially a high-capacity magazine by another name. It increases the ammo capacity of the weapon it is attached to by around 50%-100%.

Call of Duty: World at War
The Extended Magazine is an attachment available for all submachine guns and the M1A1 Carbine in Call of Duty: World at War multiplayer. The attachment doubles the ammunition capacity of a given weapon.

Variants
There are five weapons which accept Extended Magazines; however, there are different variants of the attachment.

Round Drum
The Round Drum is available for the Thompson and the PPSh-41 SMGs. It is unlocked after the Marksman III challenge for the Thompson and after the Marksman II challenge for the PPSh. It is the PPSh-41's most common attachment; its high rate of fire means the smaller magazines need frequent reloading, and also that the attachment is unlocked at Marksman II, meaning less time for its unlock.

Box Magazine
The Box Magazine is available for the M1A1 Carbine and Type 100. The attachment is commonly used on the M1 Carbine along with modified controllers, as the weapon has low recoil, and has extra ammunition for longer automatic fire.

Dual Magazines
The MP40's extended magazines attachment is called Dual Magazines. It is by far the most-commonly used attachment on the weapon, as it allows constant firing for roughly 8–9 seconds.

Multiplayer Tactics
What makes the extended magazines effective for SMGs is that it decreases the likelihood of being caught reloading. Having Bandolier further increases the ammo storage. It is often used in conjunction with the Thompson for its small 20-round magazine, and for the PPSh-41 as the small magazine will be eaten up too fast by the gun's extremely high rate of fire. This attachment allows SMGs to constantly fire on a target; often the user will "spray and pray" in a battle since they have more rounds to spend and less frequent reloading to do, which is a tactic that is frowned upon by more experienced players.

This attachment can greatly increase its user's ability to remain mobile and engage numerous targets, though the player must take into consideration their reload time will be slightly slower. The larger ammo capacity is also invaluable to rushers or players using Double Tap, as the extreme fire rates would quickly diminish the standard magazines; it is very common to see double-tappers using extended magazines.

It is common to find users of Extended Mags using Sleight of Hand to reduce reload times, and the Extended Mags are also used in the often frowned-upon combination of the MP-40 and the Juggernaut perk.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The Extended Magazines return in Modern Warfare 2. It's unlocked by getting 40 bullet penetration kills while using FMJ rounds for primary weapons, or it is obtained by getting the last marksman challenge for handguns, machine pistols, and shotguns. It is compatible with all weapons in the game except for the launchers, the .44 Magnum, Desert Eagle, Model 1887, Ranger, and the Riot Shield.

The amount of ammo in a magazine that it increases is dependent on the gun. Generally, it increases magazine size by 50%, but with some weapons it can increase magazine size by a greater amount. This does not increase starting ammo capacity unless paired with Scavenger Pro. A recommended weapon type to get Extended Magazines for is light machine guns, being that they have enormous ammo capacities, and the best penetration in the game. However, it is not recommended with assault rifles or SMGs, because most shooters tend to reload after each kill, though it can be useful if the player does a lot of spraying. The P90 becomes similar to a light machine gun with Extended Magazines due to its already large 50 round mag being turned into a 75 round mag, which allows the user to hold down choke-points, but has a much quicker reload than the LMGs. While using Extended Magazines on the P90, a player can sprint for a longer period than normal (this glitch may have been patched, however). This allows users to equip another first tier perk instead of Marathon like Sleight of Hand or Bling. The P90 is the only weapon which gains this advantage. The AA-12 in particular has a very small magazine to balance it, so extended mags (which double its mag size) are extremely popular among those who have unlocked it.

Obtaining

 * Note: when shooting through a surface, make sure the bullet leaves a bullet hole when hitting the wall while using FMJ. This confirms that this surface can be "penetrated" allowing for penetration kills. Some objects that may appear to allow for penetration kills actually don't have any effect on bullet damage therefore not resulting in penetration kills (fences, certain catwalks etc...). This can be seen if there is no bullet hole; no bullet hole, no penetration kill.
 * Extended mags have different difficulty levels on unlocking between weapons.
 * Light Machine Guns are the easiest, having a high rate of fire, ammunition capacity and damage.
 * Sniper Rifles are somewhat easy, if the player equips any scope with FMJ, fires through an intact window (cracked is fine), and gets a one-shot kill, it will count as a penetration kill.
 * Assault Rifles are relatively easy to unlock Extended Magazines for because of their high penetration and generally lower recoil.
 * Machine Pistols only require 150 kills apiece without any need for penetration kills.
 * Handguns need 100 kills apiece in order to unlock Extended Mags, which may not seem like much but can be tedious. However, tactical knife kills will also add to the player's weapon kills, so using a knifing class is an effective way of getting it.
 * Shotguns require 400 kills to unlock Extended Magazines for, making Extended Magazines a rare attachment for shotguns.
 * Submachine guns are relatively difficult to unlock Extended Magazines for because of their low penetration and generally higher recoil.
 * One easy way to unlock Extended Magazines, in Modern Warfare 2, is to crouch behind thin cover (i.e. cubicles, drums, etc.) in the 3rd person game-type and then spray them with hip-fire, as it is easy to see over the cover.
 * If an enemy is spotted, get a fix on where they are and quickly duck or go prone behind the nearest solid object and shoot through it.
 * Possibly the easiest way to unlock Extended Magazines is on Terminal. Near the Rangers spawn there is a small room which has beige-tinted glass next to the metal detectors, and a door leading to a counter facing the airplane boarding tunnel. This glass can be shot through, but never smashes or cracks, making bullet penetration kills easy. One tactic would be to drop a Care Package marker just outside, and then camp in this room, shooting anyone who attempts to steal the package.
 * Highrise is a good map for getting FMJ kills, as opponent's heads are often visible above cubicles but their bodies can be shot through thin cubicle walls. Also, the glass between the blinds that face the middle of the map can easily be seen and shot through when standing on the cubicles adjacent to the blinds.
 * The counters in Terminal can be shot through easily.
 * Favela is filled with thin walls that are easy to penetrate with the FMJ attachment.
 * The lack of health in Hardcore modes makes getting penetration kills with FMJ easy.


 * Because sniper rifles are capable of one shot kills, they can get penetration kills through glass, which other guns cannot because they will break the glass before killing the target (except in Hardcore mode and using the FAL).
 * Many maps like Quarry and Sub Base have metal catwalks that can be easily shot through because they can be seen through and do not have any noticeable damage reduction when being shot through.
 * Stopping Power is advised to assist unlocking Extended Magazines as it reduces the amount of shots necessary to kill the target, making it harder for them to escape.
 * In Sub Base, the two-story building with generators on the bottom floor and what appear to be servers on the top has a penetrable fence around the generators on the bottom floor. Note that only the north side of this fence can be effectively "penetrated" while shooting through the other sides will have no effect. Camping there and shooting through the fencing makes it possible to get 10-20 penetration kills in one game.
 * One strategy is to use Bling and attach both FMJ and a Thermal Scope. Looking through the Thermal Scope, enemies usually contrast sharply with the background, making them easier to spot hiding in dark corners and hiding behind cover or inside buildings.
 * Another strategy is to use Bling with FMJ as well as Heartbeat Sensor, to easily find enemies that are not visible behind a wall or surface.
 * Teammates and enemies count as solid objects, so the player can shoot through a teammate or enemy to kill an enemy.
 * Before the removal of 3rd Person Cage Match, players used to help each other by shooting through surfaces in order to quickly obtain penetration kills, but was likely removed for this reason.
 * An easy way of getting penetration kills is to go into 3rd Person Team Tactical and find an area where the player's gun pokes through the wall but he can still see out, such as a doorway. With the FMJ attachment, the bullets will go through the wall easily and provide penetration kills, but without any blind firing. In addition to providing penetration kills, this is also an effective means of camping as the enemy often cannot see the player behind the wall.
 * Trailer Park and Scrapyard are excellent maps to obtain penetration kills, as almost every surface is thin, allowing easy kills, even for SMGs.

Tactics

 * Some players prefer to use Bling with Extended Magazines as a substitute for Sleight of Hand, as it makes reloads less frequent and decreases the chance of finishing a magazine in the middle of a firefight.
 * Another tactic is to use Extended Mags with Scavenger Pro, as this will provide the player with a much larger amount of ammo
 * Extended Magazines do not increase starting ammo on many weapons, but those that they do are increased by only a negligible amount.
 * Extended Magazines are highly recommended with automatic machine pistols, especially with the TMP, due to its relatively small magazine.
 * Extended Magazines are most useful during medium range firefights, as missed shots are more common and larger magazines will let the player put more bullets down range before needing to reload, hopefully giving the player the advantage of not having to reload under fire.
 * A common tactic with machine guns is to equip extended magazines and the One Man Army perk to compensate for no Sleight of Hand.
 * A common tactic using Bling is to use Bling on a class with Akimbo G18 and Extended Mags. This allows for a run and gun tactic that allows the player to deliver large amounts of bullets on a target for a sustained period of time, without needing reloads.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
Extended Mags returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops, and is available to the player for 500-1000, depending on the weapon. It can be seen on nearly all weapons. This is not to be confused with Dual Mags, which is another attachment new in Black Ops that increases reload speed by taping 2 magazines together.

Unlike in Modern Warfare 2, the magazine model changes (in first and third person) when extended mags are used, just like in Call of Duty: World at War. A notable example of this are the HK21 and RPK, where they will be given drum magazines, and be called "HK21 Drum Mag" or "RPK Drum Mag". Other weapons will be shown using longer magazines. The exception to this are the M14, and M60, which do not use a different magazine model.

Trivia

 * In Modern Warfare 2, the Extended Magazine attachment has no cosmetic effect on the magazine.
 * Unlike in World at War, in Modern Warfare 2, having an extended magazine does not increase reload time, except on SPAS-12, Striker and M1014, where each shell must be loaded manually.
 * In Modern Warfare 2, the Extended Magazine picture uses AUG HBAR magazines. Ironically, the HBAR has the smallest magazine size of all Light Machine Guns.
 * Using extended mags on LMGs will have all ammo in one magazine, which means the player doesn't have to reload (unless he is using Scavenger or the AUG HBAR).
 * LMGs with Extended Magazines (except AUG HBAR) have so many rounds in one magazine (200) that on the HUD, the bullet count overlaps the white bar that separates ammo and grenade/equipment indicators.
 * In Nazi Zombies, the PPSh-41 is the only weapon to have the Extended Mags attachment.
 * The M60 is called "M60 Big Ammo" when Extended Magazines is used.
 * Any handgun with extended mags will be noticeable especially with the M1911.
 * The Extended Magazine picture in Black Ops uses the Galil's magazine (with Extended Mags).