AA-12

The AA-12 is a fully-automatic shotgun that is featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Campaign
The AA-12 appears in the campaign levels "S.S.D.D", "The Only Easy Day... Was Yesterday", "The Gulag", "Contingency", "Loose Ends", and "Just Like Old Times". The only faction seen using the AA-12 are the Shadow Company members. It's also obtainable in the Special Ops missions O Cristo Redentor, Acceptable Losses, Estate Takedown, Snatch &amp; Grab and Wetwork. Its fire rate is far faster in singleplayer than multiplayer and can waste ammunition, which makes it a powerful, yet unreliable gun to use.

Multiplayer
The AA-12 is unlocked at Level 18.

The AA-12 is a unique weapon; unlike all other shotguns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, it is fully automatic, and uses a box magazine. The AA-12 uses an 8-round magazine, which is doubled when the Extended Magazines attachment is used, which balances the weapon's power and rate of fire. The AA-12 empties its magazine far more quickly than it reloads, though this is slightly offset when Sleight of Hand or Extended Magazines are utilized.

The AA-12's main downfall is that it only has one extra magazine unless using Scavenger Pro. It has moderate recoil, but this is usually negligible due to its limited range, and shotguns are often hip-fired for wider spray. It also has lower hitting power, often requiring two or more shots even at close range, but this is also negligible because of the weapon's automatic fire capability.

Equipping a suppressor is not recommended, as this will shorten its already limited range. Using Extended Magazines will increase the capacity to 16 shells, allowing prolonged fire, but limits it to only one single magazine with no reserve ammunition, unless Scavenger is used. Using Extended Mags in conjunction with Scavenger and its Pro version can make it a highly useful weapon, and some players use it as a primary weapon. It is also notable that with the Grip attachment, the AA-12's switch time is noticeably quicker than without.

Weapon Attachments

 * Red Dot Sight
 * Heartbeat Sensor (Special Ops and singleplayer only)
 * Silencer
 * Grip
 * FMJ
 * Holographic Sight
 * Extended Magazines

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized
The AA-12 appears as one of the two shotguns available in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized, the other being the SPAS-12. Though the AA-12 has a similar look to the AA-12 in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, there are many differences between the two. First of all, the AA-12 is a frequent starting weapon in the later levels of campaign mode; is used in the U.S. Marine missions most frequently. It also comes with a 32-round drum magazine by default, much greater damage per shell, a greater one-shot kill range, near infinite pellet range, and a much lower and controllable rate of fire than the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 version.

Campaign
In campaign, the AA-12 is a versatile weapon, having a near infinite range, high damage, and a large 32 shell drum magazine. The extremely high range allows the player to make a kill at any distance, though the pellets will spread apart as the distance between the player and the target increases, negating the one-shot kill effect and decreasing accuracy considerably. Combined with the high damage, large shell capacity and near infinite range, one can fire multiple shells to make a kill at long range if needed. As mentioned before, the AA-12 is found in the later levels of campaign mode as a starting weapon, more specifically, in the levels "Training", "Closing In", "To the Rig", and "Oil Rig Confrontation".

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, the AA-12 is the second weapon to be unlocked for the Coalition multiplayer faction, taking 150 kills with the Coalition faction to earn. Unlike the single player counter-part, the multiplayer is much weaker, needing at least 3 shots at close range to achieve a kill. Despite this lack of power, it is a great weapon to use if the player is just getting into the game, as it is one of the easiest weapons to use in the game.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
The AA-12 returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, this time with a darker finish. It also has extra cosmetic features on it, such as a new grip, an empty spare shell holder, an ammo bag that reads 'U.S. Army', and new iron sights mounted on a permanent rail.

Campaign
The AA-12 is found in three missions, as shown in the E3 Demo of "Hunter Killer." The AA-12 was originally the starting secondary weapon of "Hunter Killer," but was replaced by the USP .45. Other than that the AA-12 is found in the missions "Turbulence" and "Stronghold".

Multiplayer
The AA-12 is the fourth shotgun available to the player and is unlocked at level 26.

The AA-12 has been reduced in power from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in several ways, with the spread being much wider (the widest of all shotguns in fact) and the damage per pellet being reduced from a 20 to 15. It maintains its incredibly low ammunition count from Modern Warfare 2, having a total of only 16 shells without the use of Scavenger. The AA-12 also has very poor range, in some cases requiring up to or more than an entire magazine to kill at the edge of its usable range.

This weapon is not recommended to be suppressed, as it has the worst suppressed range of any weapon in the game, including all of the shotguns. On the other hand, Extended Mags is very useful, as its high rate of fire empties its magazine very quickly. Players armed with the AA-12 should engage exclusively in close quarter conflicts and save longer ranged battles for a different class or a long ranged secondary. Scavenger is practically a necessity if one wishes to attempt any prolonged battle due to the lack of starting ammunition and high fire rate.

It is worthy of note that the AA12 actually has tightened spread when aiming down the sights, unlike most other shotguns. Steady Aim, however, will not affect the ADS spread at all.

Despite the AA-12's shortcomings, it is a devastating weapon at extremely close ranges, beating most others with its high damage output. It is best used on very small maps like Dome or a map with tight spaces such as Seatown, where the user can quickly clean out a room full of enemies. Should the enemies be slightly out of reach, the operator can simply close the gap by jumping or walking towards them while firing. However, one should be mindful of the AA-12's small magazine and make as many shots as possible count.

Damage is a useful proficiency, as it will not only increase the number of one-shot kills significantly but also raise damage at range, effectively providing an added range benefit. Range, however, will increase the distance at which the AA-12 can do any damage at all, making the decision between the two proficiencies is up to the player. Extended Mags is far by the most useful attachment as the AA-12's high fire rate will drain ammunition quickly. The recoil, as jumpy as it is, can easily be overcome with practice, making neither Kick nor a Grip necessary. Steady Aim can help to counter the wide spread of the pellets.

As of the January 25th patch, the AA-12 will no longer gain extra pellets when equipped with Extended Mags, decreasing its firepower.

Survival Mode
The AA-12 is unlocked at level 44 in Survival Mode, being the last shotgun to be unlocked. It costs $5000 from the Weapon Armory. It does a decent amount of damage with a very high rate of fire, making it lethal against large groups of enemies at all levels. It is advised to phase out the AA-12 for hard hitting weapons past the heavy troops as its rate of fire, poor range and spread, and lengthy reload (however, the reload can be remedied with Sleight of Hand) can be combursome in the middle of a wave.

Weapon Attachments

 * Grip - Unlocked at weapon level 2.
 * Silencer - Unlocked at weapon level 5.
 * Red Dot Sight - Unlocked at weapon level 12.
 * Holographic Sight - Unlocked at weapon level 17.
 * Extended Mags - Unlocked at weapon level 26.

Proficiencies

 * Kick - Unlocked at weapon level 4.
 * Focus - Unlocked at weapon level 9.
 * Attachments - Unlocked at weapon level 14.
 * Melee - Unlocked at weapon level 19.
 * Range - Unlocked at weapon level 23.
 * Damage - Unlocked at weapon level 28.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: Defiance
Tha AA-12 returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: Defiance. It now has recoil and has higher damage per pellet as well as a different HUD icon, but is otherwise unchanged from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Mobilized.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

 * In the Special Ops missions Acceptable Losses and O Cristo Redentor, players can use the AA-12 with three different attachments, the Red Dot Sight, Silencer and a Heartbeat Sensor. In multiplayer it is impossible to equip any shotgun with a Heartbeat Sensor.
 * The AA-12 has a different reload when the Heartbeat Sensor is equipped; the empty magazine will actually be thrown away when reloading, instead of disappearing off-screen as is the case with other attachments.
 * The pick-up icon in the campaign labels it as "AA-12 Shotgun".
 * The AA-12 in the "Museum" fires faster than any other AA-12.
 * The AA-12 has a lower rate of fire in multiplayer than in singleplayer.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized

 * In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized the AA-12 ejects pink shells. This happens also with the SPAS-12.
 * The AA-12 is the only detachable-magazine fed shotgun in all the Nintendo DS Call of Duty games.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

 * Like in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, it is called the "AA-12 Shotgun" in the campaign and Special Ops.
 * It has a shellholder on the side, similar to the M1014, Stakeout, and the WA2000 in Call of Duty: Black Ops, but unlike these other guns, it is empty.
 * Just like in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the AA-12's rate of fire is reduced in multiplayer in comparison to singleplayer.
 * The AA-12 has similiar iron sights to the M16A4.

AA-12