ACOG Scope

The ACOG Scope is an attachment available in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It has a higher magnification than the other optics (excluding the sniper rifle's standard scope), making hitting targets at longer ranges easier, but increases the sway of the weapon, and in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, visible recoil.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
The ACOG Scope can be used on any Assault Rifle (excluding MP44), Light Machine Gun, Sniper rifle, or Submachine Gun after the player has unlocked all Marksman Challenges for it (150 Kills). It can also be used on a Sniper Rifle instead of its standard telescopic sight after 100 kills. When equipped, it replaces the weapon's iron sights or sniper scope and provides a moderate zoom. Effective bullet range is not actually affected by this attachment, despite the bar in the class creation screen. The reticule is a red chevron ( ^ ).

Advantages

 * The ACOG Scope makes tracking moving targets (at long distances) much easier, since the target is magnified and while the gun is moving there is slightly less sway.
 * Increased zoom means better visibility when shooting over long distances.
 * The M40A3 base damage is raised to 75 with an ACOG Scope.
 * It converts sniper rifles into regular rifles, making them a powerful semi-automatic or bolt-action substitutes.
 * The G36C has little to no idle sway with ACOG Scope.


 * There is no sway on all weapons on the Wii with the ACOG sight.
 * Some weapons (M14, M21, Dragunov, R700, Barrett .50Cal and MP5) have reduced recoil.
 * The ACOG Scope makes it easier to use a sniper rifle in mid-range combat.
 * Zooming is faster with an ACOG Scope than a regular sniper scope.
 * All HUD is visible when zoomed in with an ACOG Scope. This is something that can't be accomplished with a sniper scope.

Disadvantages

 * It has higher sway than iron sights or the Red Dot Sight, making pinpoint shooting difficult.
 * It does not allow sniper rifles to be steadied.
 * When prone, snipers cannot scope in while moving, which is possible with standard sniper scopes.
 * The translucent surroundings of the scope block the player's peripheral vision.
 * The zoom on a sniper rifle is lowered considerably.
 * The ACOG Scope is not recommended for close quarters combat, as its higher level of zoom is awkward to use at close range. The ACOG Scope also zooms in (aims down sight) a little bit slower than all the other rifle sights in the game, which wastes needed time.
 * Most weapons (AK-47, M4A1, M16A4, G36C, G3, P90, Skorpion, AK-74u, Mini-Uzi, M249, RPD, and M60E4) will suffer a slight increase in recoil.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The ACOG Scope attachment in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is unlocked by completing the Marksman IV challenge (150 kills) for all primary weapons (except for Sniper Rifles; completing the Marksman II challenge of 25 kills with a sniper rifle unlocks the ACOG Scope). Many players consider the Modern Warfare 2 ACOG Scope to be greatly improved over its Call of Duty 4 counterpart and can be used on many weapons effectively. Achieving 20 kills with the ACOG scope for any primary weapon unlocks the Thermal Scope.

Visually, the ACOG scope in Modern Warfare 2 provides much more peripheal vision than its counterpart in Call of Duty 4. For almost all guns, the ACOG scope takes on the appearance of a crosshair lined in certain places with glowing orange. The L86 LSW is the only exception to this, and has a SUSAT scope instead, which foregoes the crosshairs and instead has a single arrow pointing upwards, providing clearer vision but making it harder to hit an enemy that goes prone.

The ACOG Scope causes a considerable increase in recoil, making it fairly difficult to use on guns that do not have very low recoil to begin with. This can be difficult when using weapons with high recoil, as horizontal recoil makes it almost impossible to fire a weapon fully automatically. By using Stopping Power or playing in Hardcore, this should be less of an issue. The standard ACOG Scope's appearance has changed slightly from Call of Duty 4s version. The old chevron reticule is replaced with a crosshair with decorative mil dots. A red dot in the middle of the cross shows the point of impact. The ACOG Scope is very useful when an enemy triggers an EMP, as even though the red dot and surrounding lines disappear, the black, hair-line crosshairs remain. Some players actually prefer the ACOG Scope without red light markers because it is more precise and easier to make pinpoint headshots without the red dot in the way. The ACOG Scope in MW2 also differs from the previous game in that there is a further eye relief, improving peripheral vision. However, players still usually opt for the Red Dot Sight or Holographic Sight instead, or only use it until they unlock the Thermal Scope. Using the ACOG Scope on any weapon adds a slight delay when zooming, in comparison to Red Dot Sight, Holographic sight, or iron sight. It is normally only seen on classes built for Long Range, or Sniper Rifles for Quick Scope abilities.

Advantages

 * Provides more eye relief.
 * Greater zoom than that of its counterparts.
 * On sniper rifles, the ACOG Scope can make the rifle more useful at closer ranges, especially semi-automatic, low-recoil rifles such as the M14 EBR and WA2000,
 * Even though the red reticule is affected during an EMP, the black crosshairs will still remain, giving a better sight than the original iron sights in combat.

Disadvantages

 * Increases recoil on most weapons considerably, both vertically and horizontally.
 * Increases time taken to zoom.
 * Makes extra visuals possibly confusing in the heat of battle.
 * Large zoom makes CQC difficult.
 * Weapons with idle sway cannot be steadied, this becomes a bigger problem with guns like the Intervention.
 * The larger bulkier frames block players peripheral vision considerably, although this isn't as big a problem on the SUSAT.

If the ACOG is used in third person, ADS will zoom in farther. If used on a sniper rifle in third person, there will be no scope, but instead the hipfire crosshairs will join together to form an accurate "+."

Trivia

 * The Modern Warfare 2 ACOG Scope has an unusable BUIS (Back up Iron Sight) on its left side.
 * In real life, an ACOG scope with magnification provides zooming within the scope while giving the user good peripheral vision outside the scope at the same time. On the other hand, the images within the ACOG scope in Modern Warfare 2 are of the same magnification to the images outside, meaning the scope itself is actually not providing any zooming at all. The zoom comes from the zoom-in of the screen when aiming down sight.
 * In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex Edition, the ACOG Scope does not have the internal range detail, possibly due to low resolution and lack of memory.
 * In Modern Warfare 2, ACOG Scopes have and unsteady iron sight which can be seen on the top left of the scope.
 * When applied to the M4A1 in Modern Warfare 2, the name changes to "M4 ACOG Sight" instead of M4A1.
 * In Modern Warfare 2 the ACOG scopes illuminated crosshair goes dark during an EMP, in real life this would not happen as the crosshairs are lit by Fiber-optic stands that gather light from the surroundings outside the scope. This may, however, make aiming easier, as the bright crosshair may block the shooter's vision on long ranges, and the gray lines that are left visible are rather accurate, althought they may be hard to see, depending on the color of the surface you're aiming at.