.44 Magnum

The .44 Magnum is a revolver used in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It is considered analogous to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's other "power pistol", the Desert Eagle.

Singleplayer
The .44 Magnum is almost always carried and used by General Shepherd throughout the campaign, except during "Team Player", where he is seen using an M4A1. Shepherd uses the .44 Magnum at the end of the mission "Loose Ends", to kill Ghost and Roach, and in "Endgame" when he attempts to kill Soap and Captain Price.

This weapon is not available in the singleplayer campaign; however, while in the level "Museum", the player can pick up this weapon either from the display shelf or from killing General Shepherd.

This weapon is reloaded twice by General Shepherd, once in "Team Player" at the start and the other in "Endgame" where he loads two rounds in (one to kill Soap and one to kill Price).

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, the .44 magnum is unlocked at level 26 .The .44 Magnum takes two to three shots to kill an opponent with full health at close range without Stopping Power. It takes three shots to kill an opponent at long range. Despite its moderate visual recoil, the .44 Magnum actually has very low recoil and can be fired quickly with little loss of accuracy at medium range. This weapon's main drawback is that it only holds six rounds, and has a relatively long reload time. Though the revolver uses speed loaders to load the entire cylinder at once, its reload speed is fairly long given how quickly it runs out of ammunition; Reload canceling is a viable tactic. Stopping Power has minimal effects on the .44 Magnum, though it increases the range of the two-hit kill range to roughly medium range and makes headshots instant kills, long range shots will still do only 49 damage, thus still requiring 3 shots to kill.

Tactics
Where attachments are concerned, FMJ is fairly useless, as it is generally ineffective to shoot through walls with a semi-automatic weapon with a six round cylinder; however in Hardcore, the .44 Magnum will kill in one shot through weak surfaces, such as sheet metal, with FMJ. Akimbo doubles stopping power in a fight, allowing the player to take out multiple enemies with relative ease. Akimbo can also be very effective at close range in Hardcore mode, as it allows 12 shots to be fired rapidly with only one needing to hit. If using Akimbo, consider using the Steady Aim perk, as that will greatly increase hip-fire accuracy, allowing for very good accuracy while crouched and still. The Tactical Knife attachment also proves useful at very close range, providing an opportunity for quick knife kills if ammo runs short.

Unlike other weapons in Modern Warfare 2, the .44 Magnum appears to have no Firecap, meaning that it will fire as fast as the player can press the fire button. This allows two shots to be fired at the same time, delivering an instant kill if both hit at close range, even without Stopping Power. This is technically possible with other handguns, but in the cases of the USP .45 and M9, Stopping Power is required.

The .44 Magnum is useful as a sidearm for Sniper Rifle users, due to its high close range power with low recoil and the fact that it draws quickly; however, it is one of the few weapons that doesn't allow the attachment of a Suppressor, reducing the effectiveness of stealth the player wishes to have (as sniper classes generally do). It also isn't needed for use at long ranges, as that is the role of the primary rifle.

A useful tactic for players would be to use Akimbo, and Last Stand perk, then while in last stand rapidly hip fire both guns. Doing so will often assure a kill in close-quarters.

The .44 Magnum is almost identical to the Desert Eagle stat wise (The Desert Eagle has 5 less minimum damage meaning it requires 4 shots maximum to kill without Stopping Power, or 3 with the perk, as opposed to the .44 magnum which kills in 2-3 shots regardless of perks). The .44 Magnum is best suited for CQB, where it is possible to quickly kill someone and get to cover long enough to reload. Over open ground, it is very difficult to use due to visual recoil and low magazine size.

Stealth Snipers would do better with suppressed machine pistols, as the Magnum's real strength is its draw time, coupled with its power and fire rate. Assault rifles and LMGs are also superb choices for this weapon, as they are more likely to be used further from the fighting, allowing for a weapon with a longer draw time. This does, however, make it a great partner for an SMG, as it is possible to draw the Magnum and carry on fighting, without having to back off and reload.

An easy and less known way to get akimbo or tactical knife for the .44 Magnum is to use the First Recon class, one of the Default classes. It consists of a UMP45 with holographic sight, a .44 Magnum with tactical knife, marathon, lightweight, and ninja. any kills with the .44 Magnum or the tactical knife while using this class counts as a kill with the .44 Magnum.

Weapon Attachments

 * FMJ
 * Akimbo
 * Tactical Knife

Trivia

 * On the left side of the barrel, there is writing that reads: "BRAD ALLENCONDA .44MAGNUM". Brad Allen is Infinity Ward's lead artist. "Allenconda" is also a play on "Anaconda", the name of a revolver manufactured by Colt.
 * At the lowest video settings, the .44 Magnum will appear black-gray instead of chrome/metallic.
 * In some maps, such as Favela and Wasteland, the Magnum will appear golden because of dense sunlight/sunlight color, from first person or third person.
 * The .44 Magnum has a long recoil animation, so players with modded controllers or fast trigger fingers could fire fast enough that it would cut off the animation of the previous shot and position the barrel straight to the aim's path a fraction of a second before the next shot goes off. (And, as the next shot is fired, the process would repeat.)
 * The .44 Magnum is the third revolver to appear in the Call of Duty series. The other two are the British Webley revolver and the .357 Magnum.
 * The time to switch to the .44 Magnum is shorter then all other weapons in the game, taking only 0.48 seconds to switch to while the other handguns take 0.5 seconds.

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