HK21

The HK21 is a light machine gun featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Campaign
The HK21 is the secondary starting weapon for Hudson on the level "Rebirth." It is very powerful and usually kills in one to two shots to the torso. It also has the ability to gib most enemies. It can also be found in other missions, such as "Numbers" and "WMD". Occasionally, it can be found with a Round Drum, which gives the player 80 rounds per drum. Though it is rare, it is a highly effective weapon if a Round Drum version is found.

Multiplayer
The HK21 is a fully automatic light machine gun with moderate recoil, moderate rate of fire and a 30 round magazine. It is available at Level 2 to the player, as part of the LMG default class.

The HK21 will kill in 3 shots at any range, or with 2 consecutive headshots, and has medium recoil. This makes the HK21 extremely powerful at medium range. Long-range encounters can be dealt with by firing small bursts. However, pairing the HK21 with Extended Mags and Scavenger Pro allows for an extremely effective tactic: Extended fire at long ranges coupled with the easily controllable recoil and the high power of the HK21 will allow the user to mow down enemies at choke-points allowing for easy containment of the enemy when securing objectives. The HK21 is tied with the Stoner63 for the smallest capacity out of all the LMGs so the Extended Mags attachment is extremely useful, as it doubles the ammunition capacity to 60 rounds. The iron sights, while clear and open, can be difficult to use for some. For this reason, the Red Dot Sight or Reflex Sight is recommended.

Although the HK21 has very low movement speed, perks like Lightweight are not recommended. LMGs like the HK21 are better suited to large amounts of stationary fire, particularly when defending or supporting objectives. For this reason, Scavenger is recommended to prevent running out of ammo. Steady Aim benefits the HK21 as it improves its CQB capabilities. Sleight of Hand can also be very useful for this weapon, as it dramatically reduces the amount of time needed to reload, as well as improving ADS speed with the Pro version. Hardened or Warlord along with Extended Mags and a close range sight can be more useful than Sleight of Hand.

Attachments

 * Infrared Scope
 * Red Dot Sight
 * Extended Mag (Drum Mag)
 * ACOG Scope
 * Reflex Sight

Zombies
The HK21 can be found in the Nazi Zombies game mode and can only be obtained from the Mystery Box. It starts with a magazine size of 125 rounds and with an extra 500 rounds. When Pack-A-Punched, it becomes the' "H115 Oscillator" This increases the magazine size to 150 rounds with 750 extra rounds, as well as higher damage. The HK21 is very similar to the RPK, but it sacrifices rate of fire for a larger magazine, higher damage, and higher reserve ammo.

Due to this weapon's high power and large magazine, it is arguably one of the best non-Wonder Weapons in Zombies Mode.

The low rate of fire, very high magazine size and high reserve capacity makes ammo less of an issue for the HK21 than for other weapons. However, the very slow reload time makes Speed Cola useful when using this weapon. Double Tap Root Beer is also useful from rounds 18-20+ because of the HK21's low rate of fire. The HK21 also hinders the player's movement speed; however this can be rectified by using Stamin-Up. The HK21 can be viewed as a "love it or hate it" weapon. Some will love the high ammo, but the low rate of fire and movement speed will deter others from using the weapon.

Gallery

 * For Camouflage images, click here.

Videos
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Trivia

 * The HK21 has a noticeably slower rate of fire in Zombies.
 * The HK21 in Zombies holds 125 rounds, even though it uses the 30 round magazine model instead of the drum magazine. This high magazine capacity was most likely for balancing reasons, as LMGs in World at War had more than a hundred rounds in Zombies.
 * The HK21 has a fingerprint on the back of the iron sight.
 * When discarding the magazine, if one listens closely, it uses the same reload sound as the PPSH-41 from Call of Duty: World at War.
 * The "115" in 'H115 Oscillator' is probably a reference to Element 115.
 * Clan Tags are placed on the rear of the iron sights and are completely clear and visible while aiming down the iron sights.
 * On the Wii version, the handguard and stock are black, whereas the Xbox, PS3, and PC versions have a somewhat tan-olive color.
 * In third person the HK21 has a lot of muzzle flash; however, it is barely noticeable in first person.
 * While in first person, the right side of the trigger guard is missing.
 * In the Create-A-class display, the character's arm goes through a corner of the gun's stock.
 * The iron sights are always set to '2'.
 * In the trailer for Call of the Dead, the HK21 can be seen with a Drum Mag and an Infrared Scope. However, this setup does not appear in the map.
 * Unlike other Heckler & Koch firearms in Black Ops, the HK21 has a unique reload animation where the player inserts a new magazine and pulls the charging handle back, instead of locking the bolt back, inserting the new magazine, and then locking it forward afterwards like the MP5K or the PSG1.