AA-12

The AA-12 (Auto Assault-12) is a fully-automatic shotgun that appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized. It is the only fully automatic shotgun, but will need to be reloaded frequently and has a short range.

Multiplayer
The AA-12 is unlocked at Level 18 in multiplayer.

The AA-12 is a unique shotgun, as it is fully automatic and utilizes a box magazine. It has an 8-shell magazine capacity, which is doubled when the Extended Magazines attachment is used, which balances the weapon's power and speed. The AA-12 empties its magazine far more quickly than it reloads, though this is slightly offset when Sleight of Hand is utilized. Since it uses magazines rather than individual shells, it has the fastest reload time of all the shotguns in the game.

In multiplayer, the AA-12 has only one extra magazine, so use it sparingly. It has moderate recoil unless firing full-auto (but recoil for shotguns is not much of an issue, as they are often hip-fired), and poor range, even when compared with other shotguns. This means that players using the weapon will have to get fairly close to enemies to use it effectively. However, within that range, it is extremely powerful and is a very useful weapon for clearing rooms, or areas full of enemies. While short range would be a major drawback for other shotguns, pump-action or even semi-automatic, it is not quite the case with the AA-12. Because of its ability to fire all eight shots in around 2-3 seconds, a target just within the hit range can be easilly killed because of the multitude of shots being put out.

Using Extended Mags will increase the capacity to 16 shells, allowing prolonged fire but the player will burn through ammo reserves. Using Extended Mags in conjunction with Scavenger and/or its Pro version (as otherwise, with Extended Mags, users spawn with no extra magazines) can make it a highly useful weapon, and has made some players use it as a "primary" weapon. Using a silencer with this weapon makes it almost completely useless, as it shortens the range to roughly 5-10 feet, which means that the user must get incredibly close to enemies to actually be able to hit them. It is also notable that with the Grip attachment, the AA-12's switch time is noticeably quicker than without the grip.

As with all other shotguns, it is highly recommended to hip fire the AA-12 (even without Steady Aim, which is actually sometimes a hindrance) because precision for these weapons is usually unnecessary, as the spray does the job, and the iron sights are very large, obstructing a lot of the player's view.

Many players frown upon the use of this weapon due to how devestating it is in close-quarters, and how all drawbacks of the gun can be fixed with Scavenger and Extended Mags. Many consider it overpowered, which is evident by the fact that even the most inexperienced player with barely any first-person shooter experience can pick up the weapon and rack up easy kills.

Weapon Attachments

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

Modern Warfare: Mobilized
The AA-12 appears as one of the two shotguns available in Modern Warfare: Mobilized, the other being the SPAS-12. Though the AA-12 seems similar to the AA-12 in Modern Warfare 2, there 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 Modern Warfare 2 version.

Singleplayer
In single player, 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.

Mulitplayer
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.

Glitch
On the DS version there is a glitch on the mission Closing In, when the AA shotgun icon is tapped to reload it will not highlight.

Trivia

 * The AA-12 has a different reload when the Heartbeat Sensor is equipped (only available in Special Ops); the empty magazine will actually be thrown away when reloading, instead of disappearing off-screen as is the case with other attachments. The Heartbeat Sensor is also very visible even when aiming down the sight, a characteristic that is shared with multiple weapons including the TAR-21 and the L86 LSW.
 * In the Spec Ops mission 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. This is impossible in multiplayer, because you can only equip one attachment at a time (two with the Bling perk), and it isn't possible to attach a Heartbeat Sensor to a shotgun.
 * The AA-12 has different rates of fire in Singleplayer and Special Ops than in Multiplayer.