Barrett .50cal



The Barrett M82A1 SASR ("Special Applications Scoped Rifle") and identified in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare as the Barrett .50cal. is a semi-automatic anti-materiel rifle chambered in .50 BMG. It has manageable recoil due to its weight and recoil-reducing design. The large device at the end of the barrel is a muzzle brake, which reduces the energy of the gases coming out of the barrel by expelling them to the sides of the weapon. A fully loaded M82 weighs around 32 pounds. Its mainly used to take out vehicles, usually by shooting the engine or killing the driver through the windshield. It's also used to take out people who are hiding behind cover, such as sand bags or brick walls, because of the high penetration the .50 cal round has. The M82 is an extremely long-range weapon, allowing snipers to effectively engage targets at a mile and a half away. Despite what it shows in Call of Duty, it is nearly impossible to accurately fire this gun from the shoulder, due to its size and weight, as well as its recoil. Instead, it has a bipod attached underneath, which allows it to be placed on different surfaces to shoot from.

In-Game
In single-player, the M82 can be seen on the first mission, F.N.G., inside the armory but you can't use it. The M82 is used in the mission One Shot, One Kill to attempt to assassinate Imran Zakhaev. The M82 has full zoom and unlimited ammo. The zoom feature is rather early for its time. No scope during the time of the flashback would be capable of zooming in enough to clearly see Imran's face from half a mile. This zoom feature isn't meant to be realistic, but to help the player. Since the bullet trail is extremely bright, the effects of the wind and bullet lag time are shown.

In multiplayer, the M82 is unlocked at level 49 (Lieutenant General). Like all sniper rifles, the M82 can use an ACOG Scope attachment and cannot accept a suppressor in-game. The M82 without Stopping Power is tied with the Dragunov and R700 in terms of damage per bullet when compared without Stopping Power, and the M40A3 with Stopping Power. If Stopping Power is used, the M82 can take out a player using Juggernaut in one hit if shot in the chest, neck, or head.

Despite these advantages, the M82 also has a few downsides. One of them is that the sound made upon firing is loud and distinctive and can give away the user's position. Also, it has very high recoil, but thankfully it doesn't last too long, it always travels in the same direction, and the reticule always resets right back on target afterward. A good way to compensate for its high recoil is to treat it as a bolt-action rifle, and only fire when it has returned to its original position. Because of its very high damage, firing rapidly with this gun isn't usually necessary. The M82's long range accuracy is also not up to par with that of the R700 and M40A3, which can make "across the map" shots somewhat difficult.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The M82 is relatively unchanged, with the exception of the new game mechanics and a redesigned scope. The M82 can use attachments alongside the default sniper scope (without Bling perk), such as the Heartbeat sensor, useful for detecting nearby enemies. In the Beta build, the M82 was available early on.

Trivia

 * The Barrett .50cal in Call of Duty 4 uses the Leupold 4.5x14 Vari-X scope, which is one of the only two scopes depicted correctly in the game, the other being the one on the R700.
 * Although contrary to popular belief, the weapon can accept a suppressor in real life, though the suppressor is used mainly to decrease the muzzle flash rather than the sound, as supersonic bullets are difficult to silence and wear out the suppressor quickly.
 * The PTRS-41 in Call of Duty: World at War is the Weapon Equivalent to this gun.
 * When fired the Barrett releases assault rifle casings rather than .50 caliber ones.