MG42

The MG42 (Maschinengewehr 42: Machine-rifle 42), one of the most well recognized and infamous machine guns of all time, was a light machine gun used by the Wehrmacht during World War II.

Call of Duty and United Offensive
The MG42 is a mounted weapon that can be found hanging from various areas in the game, in singleplayer and multiplayer. It can't overheat, so just hold down the fire button. It doesn't have great accuracy, but the sheer amount of bullets it puts in the air easily compensates for that, deterring even the most hardened attacker.

In United Offense, it can be found mounted on Axis vehicles. Be careful, these can overheat, so it is best to fire in short bursts.

Tanks can dispose of MG42 gunners with their cannon. However, that is a waste of ammo, since the player's machine-gunner could take the enemy down just as fast without having to use the cannon.

Call of Duty: Finest Hour
The MG42 is found often in mounted-only form and rarely as a weapon that the player can carry. However, it has horrid recoil if you don't fire it prone and with a bipod. In a pinch it can be used in crouch as the recoil is reduced slightly. Mounted versions can use their iron sights, the first version to do so. The portable version can only be fired from the hip, and the sights can only be used if the bipod is in use.

Call of Duty 2
Exactly like how they are in Call of Duty with a new appearance and same rate of fire. "Spray and pray" is a common tactic that any player will use. Due to the aggressive Germans counter-attack, an MG-42 is the saver option that you could have.

Call of Duty 3
Exactly like in Call of Duty 2, however firing for prolonged periods of time will cause it to overheat. Since there are vehicles in this game, the player can eliminate MG42 gunners with a cannon blast. It could now aim with it's iron sight but just the V-notch, not the front sight.

In multiplayer, they are equipped on Axis vehicles (ie: Kubelwagens and Panzer IVs).

Singleplayer
The MG42 is often found mounted on walls, or found with a bipod. It holds more ammo than its multiplayer counterpart and is oftentimes extremely useful due to its ability to fire a large amount of bullets and that it only takes at least 2-3 shots of any weapon to down an enemy in singleplayer. Many of these can be found in the level Their Land, Their Blood, which is helpful when navigating the trenches. Picking up the FG42 in the beginning of the level and then picking up the MG42 makes the level a whole lot easier.

The bipod allows the weapon to be mounted with better accuracy and less recoil, as such the weapon is usually mounted somewhere on a wall in the Soviet Red Army Campaign missions.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer the MG42 is unlocked at level 33 and has decent damage and a high rate of fire. It is very similar to the M249 SAW from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, as they do the same damage and have almost the exact same rate of fire, with the MG42 firing a bit faster. Like the Browning M1919, the MG42 holds a relatively large cylindrical drum magazine containing 50 rounds although its high rate of fire quickly drains ammunition, which can be a problem as, characteristic of most machine guns in Call of Duty, it has a reasonably slow reload time. It can be used effectively at long range, and recoil is not too much of a problem unless shooting from a distance. As with many machine guns, it is common that one would burst fire when attacked at long range. When fitted with a bipod, it can provide very effective covering fire when mounted on cover.

This weapon is often compared to the Browning M1919, with the MG42's advantages being a higher ROF and a quicker reload time, but the Browning's strengths being higher attack power and more accurate. Overall, the MG42 will do more damage per second but the Browning M1919 will last much longer.

The MG42 is finished reloading once the drum is reattached to the gun, so double tapping the weapon switch button ("Y" for the Xbox 360, "Triangle" for the Playstation 3, and 1 or mouse wheel for the PC) afterwards effectively cuts the reload time in half, eliminating the need for Sleight of Hand. The concept of add time applies here. This tactic is known as reload canceling.

Combining Stopping Power with the MG42 will give the player a weapon that 3-shot kills any target not using Juggernaut or Second Chance perks (4 if the enemies are using the perks) and isn't behind cover. Double tap has an interesting effect as this raises the rounds per minute to rival even the PPSh-41 (though still lower than the PPSh-41), in this scenario, the player will very quickly run out of ammunition due to the sheer rate of fire, thus Bandolier is recommended to mitigate this, but the player can very quickly take out groups of enemies due to the rate of fire and damage of each bullet (30), with each enemy needing 4-6 bullets to kill (all areas taken into account). A strategy that was once used frequently was to equip two or three players with the MG42 with Bandolier, Double Tap, and Deep Impact on Headquarters. Working together, the group could easily eliminate all hiding in the HQ room.

Nazi Zombies
The MG42 appears in all Nazi Zombie maps. It can only be obtained in the Mystery Box. It is widely considered to be one of the best weapons available, due to it's high ROF, large ammo reserve, attack power and large magazine. But because of its high ROF, after a few levels, you will need to get a new gun or get a max ammo power up. The MG42 can tear apart entire lines of Zombies before having to reload. It's also very effective against Hellhounds.

When Pack-a-Punched it becomes the "Barracuda FU-A11", and gets an increase in damage, a higher ROF, and more held ammo. Many players believe FU-A11 means: "Fuck You All".

Call of Duty: World at War (DS)
The MG-42 is different from it's console counter-parts, it is more accurate and has a slower rate of fire than the console versions. It also uses an ammo box like the M249 SAW. It is absent from multi-player and can be found in the British and Russian Campaign.

Miscellaneous

 * The MG42 was the fastest firing machine gun in World War II, and still is the fastest firing single-barreled machine gun in world history.
 * It would be difficult, but not impossible to fire the MG42 from the shoulder or a standing position firing in small bursts. While it was heavy, one man could still carry it and fire it if he used the proper stance. Though not ideal this was taught to gunners as one method of using the weapon. The bipod merely supported the weapon's weight and stabilized it (when it was even used, sometimes the gun would simply be laid on top of something).
 * In the games, the mounted MG42's lacks a magazine or an ammo belt, therefore, you're dry firing (but only in a technical sense, as bullets still hit the enemy).
 * The MG42's you can walk around and use are noticeably smaller than ones that are mounted.
 * Even if you fire all the rounds in the MG42's drum, it still reloads the same way as you manually reload (i.e. press the reload button)

Call of Duty

 * The MG42 is the first gun fired in the Call of Duty series.
 * Ironically, it's fired on you during the training course at Camp Toccoa, however it appears to be firing blank rounds. Even more ironic is that Captain Foley will tell the men "This live ammo. The real stuff."

Call of Duty 2: Big Red One

 * Interestingly, in Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, every usable mounted MG42 has a unique serial number on the top of the barrel.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

 * The MG42 appears in Call of Duty 4's weapon files, along with its CoD2 textures, and appears on the level The Bog and Sins of the Father.
 * In Sins of the Father and The Bog, the "use" symbol for some mounted MGs is the picture of an MG42.

Call of Duty: World at War

 * The MG42 in World at War is capable of ripping off limbs and heads.
 * In Their Land, Their Blood a German soldier can be seen hipfiring a MG42.
 * Like the Browning M1919, the MG42 has no magazine in third person perspective.
 * In Call of Duty: World at War, the MG42 can be found mounted on the German Panzer tanks.
 * In single player or co-op campaign, the MG42 has a 125 round drum, while in Multiplayer it has a 50 round drum.
 * The MG42 has the fastest LMG in terms of reload time, in singleplayer and Nazi Zombies.
 * Strangely, in World at War, the rate of fire for the MG42 and PPSh-41 is switched. It's possibly for balancing reasons.

Video
thumb|left|300px|MG-42 gameplay on the Wii