SCAR-H

The FN SCAR-H (SOF Combat Assault Rifle - Heavy) is a usable primary weapon in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It can be used in all three game modes: Singleplayer, Special Ops, and Multiplayer. It is based on the real-life FN SCAR-H, a powerful battle rifle firing the 7.62x51mm cartridge, made for the U.S. military. It is one of the earlier assault rifles unlocked in the game, and is one of the more powerful assault rifles, which makes up for its relatively lower rate of fire and small magazine capacity.

History
The FN SCAR-H is a modular, modern battle rifle made by FN Herstal or FN for short. The L-variant of this weapon, which fires 5.56x45mm NATO rounds, was first issued to US forces in April of 2009, with a battalion of the US 75th Ranger Regiment being the first large unit deployed with the FN SCAR. It was designed at the request of SOCOM for a multi-caliber special-forces rifle capable of marksman and CQB conversions. The SCAR-H is the battle rifle version, firing the more powerful 7.62x51mm round, making it one of the first original battle rifles since the 1950s. It has competed with the XM8 and the HK416 for general adoption by the US Army, though none of the rifles were selected to replace the M4. Currently U.S. Special Operations Forces such as the Army Rangers, Delta Force, and Navy SEALs are field testing the weapon in Iraq and Afghanistan. All Rangers are supposed to be equipped with a SCAR-H or SCAR-L by late 2010. The key idea of SCAR rifle system was to provide special forces operators with a wide variety of options, from a short-barreled 5.56x45mm CQC variation tailored for urban close combat, to a long range 7.62x51mm SCAR-H Sniper variant, as well as a 7.62x39mm SCAR-H, which could accept "battlefield pickup" AK47 magazines with 7.62x39mm M43 ammunition, available during operations behind enemy lines.

Multiplayer
Unlocked at Level 8 in multiplayer, the high damage and moderate recoil of the SCAR-H makes it popular among players, despite its small magazine capacity and relatively low rate of fire. It has the least amount of ammo of all automatic assault rifles due to its small magazine size (making this weapon a good choice for unlocking the "Surgical" title), and it also has a fairly long reload time. Stopping Power is useful with this weapon in core - though the rifle doesn't depend on it to be effective due to its relatively high damage, but can be useful to rack up more kills without reloading as many times, or if Scavenger is not unlocked. It is also decent at close range fighting. However, it only comes with 60 total rounds. This means that the SCAR-H will run out of ammo very quickly. In hardcore, the SCAR-H is a one shot kill at any range, unless shooting through cover. The SCAR-H is arguably one of the most effective assault rifles at long range as it has good accuracy, precise iron sights, high damage, and only vertical recoil which is easy to control. Because of it's ability to kill targets in one shot, the SCAR-H is surprisingly effective in Hardcore when equipped with a Thermal Scope, either Blinged with a Silencer or with a different Tier 1 Perk. This is because it can be used effectively in close quarters, even hipfiring as it has low recoil and a low rate of fire. It is also effective even firing full-auto at long range as it has lower recoil than the other one hit kill assault rifles.

Additional Tips:

 * The iron sights on the SCAR-H are extremely clear and give an unobstructed view of the target in all directions, making a Red Dot Sight or Holographic Sight unneeded by those who can use its iron sights well, freeing the slot for other attachments, such as a Silencer or Extended Mags.
 * Scavenger and Extended Magazines are both very popular with the SCAR-H due to its small starting ammo reserve and small magazine. The Extended Mags attachment gives the SCAR-H 30 rounds in a magazine instead of 20.
 * Reload Canceling does work to a degree with the SCAR-H, however it is only somewhat effective and should only be used when reloading a partially empty magazine, as it is difficult to reload cancel with a fully emptied magazine effectively.
 * A Grenade Launcher is also a good attachment for this weapon: Scavenger is useful because of the weapon's low ammo, and gives the player infinite M203 grenades. The iron sights of the SCAR-H are extremely clear, so it is more easy to use a Grenade Launcher. And the high damage of the SCAR-H makes Stopping Power unnecessary, allows the player to use Danger Close, to make the M203 more powerful.


 * Keep in mind, however, that Stopping Power reduces the bullets necessary to kill in non-hardcore gametypes (before region-of-the-body damage multipliers) at close to mid-long range from 3 to 2 and at extreme long range from 4 to 3. This can help the player be somewhat more ammo-efficient, which can be a great help, especially for the SCAR-H, with its low starting ammo count, and even more so if the player does not have Scavenger as a Tier 1 perk. There is also the simple benefit of it killing faster: because of the SCAR-H's low rate of fire, the reduction of a bullet actually shaves a considerable portion of time (still only fractions of seconds, but very valuable in a firefight) off of how long it takes to kill a target while firing accurately with this weapon.

More info

 * Stopping Power is the ideal perk to be used with the SCAR-H. This is because Stopping Power reduces the number of bullets needed to kill an opponent by 1, and while this isn't such a huge advantage with a weapon with a high rate of fire (such as the M4A1 or ACR), the SCAR-H has among the lowest rates of fire in the Assault Rifle class, meaning it has the most to benefit from reducing the number of bullets needed by 1.
 * The SCAR-H has the lowest rate of fire out of all the assault rifles (FAL's firecap is 630 RPM)
 * The most common perk with the SCAR-H is Stopping Power and Hardline as it allows two shot kills, or an earlier killstreak build, surprise them with another perk.
 * The most common tier 1 perk (a.k.a. "blue" perk) is Scavenger or Bling. Although Scavenger may be needed, Bling is fairly useless unless you're mounting a Grenade Launcher and Silencer or Extended mags with a Silencer.
 * Mounting an optic on the SCAR-H (e.g. Holographic Sight, Red Dot, etc.) is a waste of an attachment, as the SCAR-H has one the most open, clearest, easy-to-use set of iron sights in the game. A player ought to attach the Silencer, Grenade Launcher, or Extended Magazines instead.
 * The most common "green" perk is Steady aim or Commando. The SCAR-H is incredibly effective with Steady Aim, as its kills in 2 bullets at close range providing the player is using Stopping Power. As such, the time saved from not having to aim down the sights often means the difference between winning and losing in a close confrontation. The SCAR-H is also extremely common with commando as it allows a better alternative to killing when the user needs to reload or they're out of ammo
 * The "noob tube" is extremely common among low level players who use the SCAR-H (ex. lvl. 13) as it may be the only attachment they have unlocked so far.

Weapon Attachments

 * Grenade Launcher
 * Shotgun
 * Red Dot Sight
 * Holographic Sight
 * Silencer
 * Heartbeat Sensor
 * ACOG Scope
 * Thermal scope
 * FMJ
 * Extended Magazines
 * Foregrip (Only found in the pit of S.S.D.D.)

Inaccuracies

 * The SCAR-H's bolt is designed to lock back when the weapon is empty. In game, it doesn't, so when the weapon is reloaded, the bolt release is hit but the bolt is already forward.
 * The SCAR-H is depicted using the M203 grenade launcher, but like some other rifles (G36, F2000 and other), it has its own proprietary launcher, the FN40GL.
 * The rear sight of the SCAR-H is backwards.

Trivia

 * Directly under the iron sights the text reads "INFINITY WARD, USA. ENCINO, CA. www.infinityward.com and IW BROCK," followed by some indistinguishable characters.


 * Sometimes in the 3rd person multiplayer modes a SCAR-H with camouflage will lose its camouflage when the player changes to a secondary weapon.


 * In S.S.D.D., a SCAR-H with foregrip can be found in 'The Pit'. However this configuration can not be found anywhere else in the game. This is probably to balance it out alongside the ACR also available in 'The Pit'.


 * The SCAR-H has a different reload animation with the Heartbeat Sensor attached because the charging handle is obstructed.


 * The first military unit to be equipped with the SCAR-H is the U.S. Army Rangers, which the American main characters are a part of in Modern Warfare 2.


 * The SCAR-H is the main weapon of the Rangers in Modern Warfare 2. In real life, all Rangers are supposed to be equipped with the SCAR-H and SCAR-L by 2011.


 * When the weapon is picked up off the ground for the first time, the player character cycles the action before using it.


 * The SCAR-H's pickup and kill icon shows a foregrip, even though it is only seen in S.S.D.D..


 * In singleplayer, the SCAR-H's M203 makes the sound of a GP-25, but in multiplayer, it makes the regular sound of a M203.


 * The SCAR-H that can be taken from Dunn in the museum has a thermal scope which cannot be steadied, and has the recoil of a SCAR-H with a red dot/holographic sight.


 * There is fingerprint on the front iron sight that is visible under the correct lighting.