Iron Sights

Iron Sights are used to assist the user in aiming and are included on all guns in the Call of Duty series except for the Ranger in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

On certain guns, the iron sight can partially obstruct the players view, and as a result some players prefer to use different optics on said guns.



Iron sights are present on nearly all in-game ballistic weapons. Iron sights are vital for killing an enemy at long range as "hip firing" is inaccurate at most ranges greater than about ten to twenty-five yards.

Conversely, at very close range, aiming down the sights can be impractical, as a result of the additional time it takes to bring the sights to bear, the zoom's making tracking fast moving targets harder, recoil's effect on point of aim.

In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, there are two substitutes for iron sights: the ACOG Scope and the Red Dot Sight, which are unlocked by killing a certain number of enemies. 25 kills on assault rifles, LMGs, SMGs and shotguns earns a red dot sight, and 150 kills on assault rifles, LMGs and SMGs, or 100 kills on sniper rifles, unlocks the ACOG Scope. The singleplayer campaign also features weapons with Holographic Sights, which are similar to Red Dot Sights.

In Call of Duty: World at War, there are two substitutes for iron sights: the Telescopic Sight and the Aperture Sight. Both are unlocked after having completed challenges that require kill counts. It takes 75 kills for Rifles and SMGs to earn the Aperture Sight. The Telescopic Sight is only available for the Gewehr 43, SVT-40, FG42 and STG-44. It is earned by achieving 75 kills with the FG42 and 150 kills with the SVT-40, Gewehr 43 and STG-44.

In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, there are several substitutes for iron sights: the Red Dot Sight, the MARS Sight, the F2000 Scope, the Holographic Sight, the ACOG Scope, the SUSAT, and the Thermal scope. The Red Dot Sight is unlocked after getting a certain amount of kills for the gun, 25 for most, but for others, 10. The ACOG scope is unlocked after 150 kills with the weapon, the Holographic sight is obtained after 60 kills while looking down the Red Dot Sight of that weapon, and the Thermal Scope is unlocked after 20 kills while aiming down the ACOG scope.

In Modern Warfare 2, the accolade "Hairtrigger" is subtitled "Most ADS Kills," where "ADS" means "Aiming Down Sights."

Trivia

 * The first Call of Duty iteration to implement back-up iron sights is Call of Duty: Black Ops, as several Western weapons such as the M60, the FAMAS, the Steyr AUG, the Commando and the G11 use the same rear iron sight, leading to a very similar "sight picture" for each of those weapons.