M8A1

"4 round burst assault rifle. Bursts can be fired in quick succession."

- Description

The M8A1 is an assault rifle that appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops II. It was first shown in the reveal trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops II. It appears to be the main weapon of many allies found in-game, including Harper.

Multiplayer
The M8A1 is the eighth assault rifle in the category, and is unlocked at level 49. It is a four round burst weapon, with moderately low recoil. The bursts make this an effective weapon at any range, but it is most potent in mid-range engagements. The M8A1 can kill with just three rounds at close range, however at long range five shots are required to kill, meaning at least two bursts.

The iron sights are moderately clear and can be used effectively by experienced players, but to use the M8A1's ranged capabilities, an optical attachment, such as the Reflex Sight or the Target Finder is recommended.

Select Fire can turn M8A1 into a solid fully automatic assault rifle. Due to its high rate of fire and good damage, it can be effective in closer engagements over the burst-fire, and at longer distances, the player may switch to burst-fire for more accurate (and less ammo-consuming) fire.

Zombies
The M8A1 is available in all Zombies modes for 950 points in the mystery box. It retains its four-round burst fire mode from multiplayer. Double Tap II can be very useful with this gun, as its four round bursts start off somewhat weak, making it difficult to kill zombies quickly. It can be very good for making points in the right hands, and is suitable for shooting zombie hordes. Pack-a-Punched, it becomes the Micro Aerator. This gun is the kingpin of headshots, as its four round bursts can eliminate zombies with ease until as late as round 24, when double tapped. It also holds a large ammo capacity, making it one of the more worthwhile box weapons to upgrade. It can be Pack-a-Punched multiple times like other weapons, but each one costs 2000 points and it only replaces the attachment. The attachments include a Reflex Sight, EOTech sight, Target Finder, MMS and the Grenade Launcher.

Attachments

 * Reflex Sight (unlocked weapon level 2)
 * Quickdraw (unlocked weapon level 3)
 * Fast Mag (unlocked weapon level 4)
 * ACOG Scope (unlocked weapon level 5)
 * Foregrip (unlocked weapon level 6)
 * Adjustable Stock (unlocked weapon level 7)
 * Target Finder (unlocked weapon level 8)
 * Laser Sight (unlocked weapon level 9)
 * Select Fire (unlocked weapon level 10)
 * EOTech Sight (unlocked weapon level 11)
 * Suppressor (unlocked weapon level 12)
 * FMJ (unlocked weapon level 13)
 * Hybrid Optic (unlocked weapon level 14)
 * Extended Clip (unlocked weapon level 15)
 * Grenade Launcher (unlocked weapon level 16)
 * MMS (unlocked weapon level 17)

Trivia

 * The M8A1 is the first weapon in the series to fire four round bursts.
 * When Kryptek: Typhon camouflage is applied to the M8A1, it will act as an overlay, retaining the original colors but adding the scaly pattern over them, whereas with other weapons, the original colors are changed to black.
 * The M8A1 was called the XM8 in Black Ops II's beta stages.
 * The M8A1 fires extremely fast in its burst fire, matching the Skorpion EVO and Chicom CQB without Rapid Fire. The M8A1 fires at a maximum of at least 1250 RPM
 * The M8A1 shoots 5.56 mm rounds and 7.62 mm with FMJs
 * In the early stages of black ops 2 the M8A1 was also in black but later got cut before the final stage.