SPAS-12

The SPAS-12 is a shotgun featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized, Call of Duty: Black Ops, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 it is pump-action, where as in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized and Call of Duty: Black Ops it is semi-automatic.

Single Player
The SPAS-12 appears frequently in several campaign levels; however, during the missions "Cliffhanger," "The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday", and "The Gulag", a SPAS-12 with Arctic Camouflage can be found. It is also possible, although extremely rare, to find a SPAS-12 with woodland camouflage on "Loose Ends" and "The Enemy of My Enemy". Its range is regarded as long in terms of a shotgun in both the singleplayer and multiplayer.tra la la la tra la la la

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, it is the first shotgun available to the player, available in the "Grenadier" default class, with an attached Suppressor. The SPAS-12 is one of three pump-action shotguns in the game, the others being the W1200, which is only available in the "Museum," and the Masterkey Shotgun attachment.

The SPAS-12 is a popular shotgun due to its high damage and outstanding range. Since the update which reduced the range of the Model 1887 when used with Akimbo, it has become one of the most used shotguns in online multiplayer.

The Grip is ineffective as an attachment, as the sights reset by the time the next shell is in place anyway. The Grip does, however, keep the screen more still, allowing for easier detection and tracking of enemies. Extended Mags increases the SPAS's magazine to 16 shells, which is highly useful for prolonged CQB engagements. Optics are nearly useless on a SPAS, as shotguns are often hip-fired, and even if aiming down, its iron sights are clear enough. Because there are few instances of taking cover in close quarters engagements, FMJ is not a very good choice for this weapon as it does nothing aesthetically or functional to the weapon.

The most useful attachments are the Suppresser or Extended Mags so you can keep stealthy or fight longer without having to combat the SPAS-12's long reload.

Weapon Attachments

 * Red Dot Sight
 * Silencer
 * Grip
 * FMJ
 * Holographic Sight
 * Extended Mags

Campaign
The SPAS-12 appears in Modern Warfare: Mobilized as one of the two shotguns in game, the other being the AA-12. The SPAS-12 is only found in "Wrecking Crew", "Closing In", "Oil Rig Confrontation", and "Last Chance", used only by the Insurgency. The SPAS-12 is the same in appearance as the SPAS-12 in Modern Warfare 2, but it has a few differences in performance. Firstly, it fires in the semi-automatic mode as opposed to the pump-action mode. This allows a quick second shot if the first shot misses or does not kill. Secondly, the pellets have an unlimited range. This allows the player to fire all eight shells quickly (if necessary) to kill an enemy at long range.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, the SPAS-12 is unlocked by default for the Insurgency faction. It is a decent shotgun to use, though it has a long reload time and a capacity of only 8 shells. Unlike single player, it usually takes two shells to kill, unless at point blank range or when firing at the head. On the contrary, it usually does not take more than three shells at long ranges, except when moving or firing at great distances. The SPAS-12 is often considered one of the best close quarters weapons in the game, having high damage, and unlimited pellet range. The SPAS-12 has very predictable spreads when firing crouched as the pellets always hit the same spots. Therefore, using the iron sights is not necessary if accuracy is desired.

Campaign
The SPAS-12 is featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops. The SPAS-12 is semi-automatic (unlike it's pump-action version in MW2) and has its stock in the folded position. One of the key benefits of the shotgun is that it has the largest capacity of all the shotguns. They are commonly found on enemies in the levels "The Defector" and "Numbers" with no attachments. In "The Defector," you start with a SPAS-12 with the ability to use Dragon's Breath incendiary shotgun shells. The Dragon's Breath is aesthetically identical to the rounds regularly fed into the SPAS-12, the only difference is that the Dragon's Breath has incendiary shells, meaning that the rounds let out fire, symbolizing it's name. The Dragon's Breath also has a wider reticle than the normal SPAS-12, which will allow for multiple enemies being taken out. However, the Dragon's Breath does not appear outside of the Campaign.

Multiplayer
The SPAS-12 is featured in multiplayer. It must be pumped after picking it up and reloading, but operates in semi-automatic mode. It is available for purchase at level 24. The SPAS-12's only attachment is the Suppressor. As with all other shotguns, aiming down the sights makes the pellets spread more than hipfiring, so Steady Aim would be a useful perk. The SPAS-12's key benefits lie in its larger magazine capacity than the other shotguns and its ability to equip suppressed with no penalty to range or damage.

It deals medium-high damage, but it excels at close quarters, and is best suited for medium distances, although it will often take two or three shells to get a kill (however at close range more often than not the SPAS-12 will kill in one shot). Contrary to what the in-game statistics say, the Suppressor attachment has no negative effect on the SPAS-12, so there is no reason not to use it.

Although the SPAS-12 has less range and damage per shot than the Stakeout, it does have a magazine that is twice as large (8 shells, versus 4 in the Stakeout) and a much higher rate of fire, because the SPAS-12 is semi-automatic. Even though the SPAS-12 is less likely than the Stakeout to get a one-hit kill, it is much easier to fire subsequent rounds if necessary. However, recoil is high, and, unlike the Stakeout, there is no Grip attachment to mitigate this. The SPAS-12 is relatively underrated in the online community but can actually be an extremely powerful mid-range and room clearing weapon once the player masters and compensates its rate of fire and range. It can easily out-perform most weapons in close quarters and even at range with an element of surprise with the Suppressor.

Zombies
The SPAS-12 is available in the Mystery Box. It is effective in the early-mid rounds, often capable of one-shot killing zombies, but it has a long reload time as each shell is loaded individually. It is also available as a weapon power-up in Dead Ops Arcade, where it is fully automatic, has increased range, and has a wide spread. This makes it very helpful when fighting large amounts of zombies.

When Pack-a-Punched, the SPAS-12 comes out as the "SPAZ-24" which has a 24 round magazine and when reloading it just takes one shell to fully reload. This version is also fully automatic. It can be very effective at killing masses of zombies in a fast rate making it more helpful when trying to get out of a large crowd. Using Double Tap Root Beer in conjunction with the "SPAZ-24" is a love-it-or-hate it as it can kill large crowds faster, but wastes ammo faster as well. Also 24 is 12 doubled, a reference to the fact that it's damage is doubled. The magazine size is also tripled, from 8 to 24.

Gallery
For Camouflage images, click here.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
The SPAS-12 was seen in the E3 demo for Modern Warfare 3. Its pickup icon shows the weapon with an unfolded stock, however it is common for pickup icons to be misrepresentations. Not much else is known.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

 * When the SPAS-12 is fired, the ejection port opens and closes as normal, however no shell is ejected; and then, when the player pumps it, the shell will eject but the port will not open.
 * There are multiple fingerprints visible on the SPAS-12. There appears to be one on the stock, a few on the receiver and one on the pump mechanism.
 * FMJ does not add the "fireworks" animation when pellets hit a surface.
 * Equipping a Suppressor to the SPAS-12 in multiplayer gives it the name "SPAS-12 Silencer", rather than "SPAS-12 Silenced".
 * While Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was in development, the SPAS-12 used the M1014's pick-up icon.
 * In "The Gulag" and some Special Ops missions, enemies can drop SPAS-12s with white pump and grip, serving as basic Arctic Camouflage. These SPAS-12s also have the firing sound of a M1014.
 * The third-person firing sound of the SPAS-12 is identical to the first-person firing sound of the W1200.
 * When using PC hacks & changing the field of vision, one can see that the shotgun shells are simply stuck on to the players right thumb.
 * In singleplayer, empty shells can be seen ejecting when the gun is cycled, but the shells aren't seen in multiplayer.
 * The SPAS-12 has somewhat noticeable idle sway while ADS with iron sights.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized

 * The weapon's inventory icon displays the stock folded up, but when viewed from first or third person, there is no stock attached.
 * The SPAS-12 ejects pink shells. This happens also with the AA-12.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

 * SPAS stands for "Sporting Purpose Automatic Shotgun."
 * The SPAS-12 was manufactured in 1979 as stated by the original Wikipedia, however Call of Duty: Black Ops takes place in the 60's. The SPAS-12 shouldn't be present.
 * In the "WMD" trailer at GTTV, "SPAS" was the original name/place holder name for the SPAS-12.
 * It was originally intended to make the SPAS-12 have the Dragon's Breath attachment in multi-player. However, this was scrapped in early development due to balancing issues.
 * If Gold Camouflage is equipped, the rounds being inserted will be gold. The same applies for the Stakeout and Olympia.
 * In Dead Ops Arcade the SPAS-12's icon has a suppressor, but it does not seem to show when the player fires the weapon.
 * When looking carefully at this weapon after fired in third person, it appears the holder pumps the gun after every shot. This can't be done in first person or indeed the rest of the game. It is due to all of the shotguns in Black Ops having the same third person animation.