The KS-23 is a pump-action shotgun which makes an appearance solely in the campaign of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Strike Team. It is unavailable for use in multiplayer and Zombies in Black Ops.
Call of Duty: Black Ops
The KS-23 is first seen in the mission "Operation 40" being wielded by Cuban soldiers defending Castro's compound. The player can take the weapon from every soldier using it. It has a very increased range and a devastating power, able to kill in one shot to every part of the body (including feet). After this mission, in can also be found in "Vorkuta", after Sergei opens the door and takes a pile of KS-23s from the main armory. In this mission, the gun has an harpoon attached to it, and it is used to take down a Russian Mi-8 Hip. The gun is also featured in "Crash Site" as Mason's secondary weapon and it can be used to kill Viet Cong's and Spetsnaz soldiers. It is also present in "Rebirth" when Mason and Reznov enter Steiner's lab. In this mission, the gun is taken from a guard patrolling the place.
Gallery
Call of Duty: Strike Team
The KS-23 appears as the "SS-23K" in Call of Duty: Strike Team.
Trivia
- The KS-23 is one of the two shotguns that are exclusive to the campaign in Black Ops, the other being the Model 1887.
- The KS-23 boasts the capability to easily gib enemies.
- The KS-23's serial number is "FS259".
- The KS-23 has the same firing animation as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's SPAS-12, and the same reloading animation as the W1200 and the Stakeout.
- The KS-23 originally seems to have been planned for featuring in multiplayer, as there is a file named "ks23_mp". However, it was removed for due to the difficulty of balancing a 4 Gauge shotgun to the rest of the Shotgun-class weapons. (possibly unbalanced pair with the Stakeout, not likely)
- The KS-23 was set to appear in the Zombies game mode but was removed. It still remains in the .IWD game files called, "ks23_zm" and "ks23_upgraded_zm".
- If shot at a civilian or police car, the car will explode with one shot. This is seen more easily in "Operation 40".
- On the Wii version, the KS-23 pick up icon is The Stakeout`s Icon.
- The harpoon can be wielded via console commands giving it two harpoons and no actual reload animation.
- When ejecting a shell, two seems to appear.
- The KS-23 and the Model 1887 are the only shotguns that are not available in Zombies.
Call of Duty: Strike Team
- The KS-23 is called the SS-23K in-game.
- It is not unlocked in-game unless you buy the "Assault Package" Care Package which includes a new perk called "Shotgunner" which increases the damage of shotguns, three Health Kits, and the SS-23K.