Guns Of Fiction / Assault Rifles I to Z

Guns of Fiction
Handguns (A-G, H-L, M-Z) | Revolvers | Machine Pistols | Submachine Guns (A-L, M-Z) | Rifles | Assault Rifles (A-H, I-Z) | Battle Rifles | Sniper Rifles | Shotguns | Machine Guns | Autocannons and Rotary Cannons | Flamethrowers | Rockets, Missiles and Grenade Launchers | Others

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IMI Galil/IWI ACE

Israel's answer to the AK, this rifle delivers a heavy punch best served in short bursts thanks to its even heavier recoil.

—Description, Far Cry 4

The Ace of Israeli rifles.^note Top: IMI Galil ARM, Bottom: IWI Galil ACE 22

The Israel Military Industries Galil is an Israeli-developed assault rifle, introduced in the 1970s to replace their then-standard FN FALs. The Galil is based on the Finnish Valmet Rk 62 assault rifle, itself a copy of the famous AK-47,^*Interestingly, the designer of the Galil that gave his name to the rifle, Yisrael Galil, was originally named Yisrael Balashnikov. He changed his name for two reasons: one, it's customary to adopt Hebrew names when moving to Israel, and two, they didn't want a name that similar to Kalashnikov's attached to their new rifle. and shares many common design elements with the latter, including the action and fire selector style. Uniquely, the ARM variant's handguard includes ferrules to hold the bipod in place which double as bottle openers - before this, Israeli soldiers would often use their guns' magazines to open bottles, which damaged the feed lips. It should be noted that the ARM light machine gun variant was the one chosen to act as a standard infantry rifle, with the actual AR issued to support troops and the SAR carbine going to special forces and vehicle crews.

The Galil served as the Israeli service rifle from the mid-1970s to the 1990s. While rugged and reliable, the gun proved to be a bit heavy, and expensive to manufacture. This, coupled with Israel receiving a large number of US M16s for a low price, meant that the Galil was never deployed en masse, only being issued to rear-echelon units, before being gradually replaced through the 21st century. However, the Galil's service life is far from over, as it continues to be used and manufactured. The newer Galil ACE, introduced in 2008, fixes the weapon's weight problem, and further improves the weapon, with a newer trigger set, a telescoping stock (a folding stock is also available), and accessory rails. The ACE is the current service rifle of the Colombian military, as well as the future service rifle for the Chilean and Vietnamese military.

In addition to Israel, Galil variants are also license-produced by several other countries. In particular, South Africa adopted a variation with a lengthened stock as the Vektor R4, which has a number of its own variants, including the R5 carbine, the R6 compact carbine, and the bullpup CR-21.

The Galil has several different variants: the standard-length AR, the SAR carbine, the MAR (or Micro Galil) compact carbine, the ARM light machine gun, and the Galatz sniper rifle, all which are chambered in either 5.56x45mm or 7.62x51mm NATO. The ACE variant is available in both (5.56mm as the ACE 21, 22, and 23, 7.62mm as the ACE 52 and 53) and also comes chambered in 7.62x39mm (the ACE 31 and 32).

• The South African R4 version of the rifle can often be seen in South African media visually modified to resemble the Galil's immediate ancestor, the AK. A converted R4 can be recognized by its receiver design and by its straighter magazines.
• The thugs in Dredd are often seen using the R4 variant of the Galil.
• The R4 frequently appears in Strike Back, often modified to resemble the AK.
• Many of the MNU mercenaries in District 9 carry the R6 carbine variant of the R4, as well as the bullpup CR-21 version.
• The Galil frequently appears in the Counter-Strike series, as the Terrorists' equivalent to the Counter-Terrorist FAMAS.
  • The 7.62 chambered version of the ARM appears in the original game, Condition Zero, and Online as the "IDF Defender". For some reason, it has the same magazine capacity as the 5.56mm chambered version.^note The 5.56mm version has 35 rounds per magazine; the 7.62 version should have 25 rounds.
  • The 5.56mm chambered version of the ARM appears in Source.
  • The ACE 22 version (5.56mm with a mid-size barrel) appears in Global Offensive.
• Appears in Waltz with Bashir as the primary weapon of the Israeli soldiers.
• The ARM variant appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops and its sequel. Its appearance in the first game is anachronistic, as it was first introduced in the 1970s, while Black Ops takes place in the 60s. It's a somewhat popular weapon due to its higher capacity than other weapons in its class and rather open sights, though it doesn't compete with the faster bullpup bullet-hoses. It's also widely agreed to be one of the best weapons to obtain when battling zombies, due to its low recoil, high damage and huge magazine size.
• The Galil ACE was added in the Season 4 update of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) as the CR-56 AMAX. It uses the ACE 32 fitted with a GAR 11.8" barrel by default, though some barrel attachments allow it to resemble the GAR39SBR and the Beretta AR-70/223. A 10-round magazine of 7.62x39mm M67 Yugoslavian ammunition is also available, but restricts the fire mode to semi-auto.
• Cheritto from Heat carries one during the bank robbery shootout, alternately with and without the stock attached depending on the camera angle.
• The MAR is a common Mook weapon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • A Ten Rings member carries one in Iron Man.
  • Some of Loki's mercenaries use MARs with foregrips and holographic sights in The Avengers.
  • A HYDRA agent wields an MAR with a foregrip and EOTech sight on the bridge in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Several of Bartoc's mercenaries carry them as well.
  • Some of Crossbones's operatives use MARs in Captain America: Civil War.
  • South African police officers use the R5 carbine variant of the R4 against the Hulk in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception features the shortened Galil MAR (incorrectly fitted with 7.62mm magazines) as the "G-MAL". It fires in three-round bursts, even though the real-life Galil lacks a burst-fire mode, making it the third game's equivalent of the second's FAL. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End's multiplayer and the standalone expansion The Lost Legacy include a mostly-full-sized ARM 7.62, still with a slightly shortened barrel and given a full (though still folding) wooden stock, where it's misidentified as the INSAS, a vaguely-superficially-similar weapon used by India's armed forces.
• The ACE 53, the full-size 7.62mm variant of the Galil ACE, shows up in Far Cry 3 as simply the "ACE", which can be bought or otherwise unlocked upon reaching the second island. It can't be suppressed like the M1A from the first island can, and it's harder to acquire (no enemies use is, so your choices are buying it for a hefty sum or activating the much more difficult radio towers of the second island), but it competes with more options for sights (in particular it can get the 4x Marksman's Sight), doubled capacity (30 unmodified^note Which is inaccurate, as the Real Life ACE 53 has a 25-round magazine capacity. and 40 extended, versus the M1A's 15/20), and a full-auto fire rate behind the same high power. It returns in Far Cry 4 with a different name (now the A52) but otherwise the same characteristics (in fact, being even better by association now due to the M1A's nerfed damage).
• The ACE 23 shows up in Watch_Dogs as the "AC-AR", given an oddly-shaped magazine (curved more like an AK-style mag) that only holds 20 rounds and a short-range scope to act as a burst-firing sniper rifle.
• Battlefield 4 includes four different ACE variants, two each in 5.56mm and 7.62mm. The 21 and 52 are classified as carbines and are available to every class (the 52 unlocked before the 21), as is the ACE 53 as a designated marksman's rifle (where it's the penultimate weapon of its class), while the ACE 23 is an assault rifle restricted to the Assault class, acting as the Bragging Rights Reward unlocked for the "Assault Expert" assignment. The ARM variant returns for Hardline as an assault rifle exclusively to the Operator class (an equivalent for Assault class), unlocked after you complete the "Operator Syndicate" assignment.
• The ARM is available in Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield with the same set of attachments (suppressor, extended magazine, or scope) as the other assault rifles; strangely, it's fitted with the same 30-round magazine as most of the other assault rifles. It's also available in the console version, Black Arrow, where it's always fitted with a Beta-C drum magazine.
• The Vektor R5 shows up in sprite form as the primary assault rifle of the Gindra Liberation Front in Metal Gear: Ghost Babel.
• Upotte!!, like many of the other guns on this page, features a personification of the Galil, as well as one of the similar Finnish Rk 95, respectively named Galil and Sako. Like all other AK-derived weapons in the series^note Direct derivatives of the AK in this series come from a school whose name essentially translates to "AK is a cat", hence they all have cat ears and tails they have exotic ears (respectively wolf for Galil and elf for Sako). The two are introduced prior to a war game, with Sako as a primary antagonist during it (intending on taking over the school by defeating Sixteen, who she identifies as its "queen") and Galil as her lackey; Galil ends up joining the regular cast after Ichihachi, the personification of the above AR-18, fishes her out of a lake and befriends her, while Sako disappears afterwards, except for an anime-only scene where she arrives to assist in the final battle against actual AKs.
• The 7.62mm version of the ARM is available as the "Gecko 7.62" in PAYDAY 2, with the Gage Assault Pack DLC. Modifications included with the DLC allow it to be turned into the original AR, a fictional 7.62mm conversion of the MAR, or a scope-less variant of the Galatz sniper rifle.
• Hal Mason's preferred weapon in Falling Skies are Galil variants.
• Appears as a 2-star AR in Girls' Frontline, wearing a modified version of the IDF uniform and being touchy about her weight. In the story, she is part of Negev's squad. Galil switches her ARM for an ACE 32 with her MOD III upgrade.
  • A later update also added the Magal, an extremely rare variation of the MAR in .30 Carbine (Israel, especially its police, really love that round) that ended production at a thousand units for being woefully unreliable, as a 3-star AR login reward.
• Littara in Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium wields a Galil ARM as her Imprinted weapon, switching from the Kampfpistole she had in Girls' Frontline. Given her stature and inexperience, she has trouble controlling the machine gun's recoil, with her attack and traning animations showing her spraying bullets wildly.
• Available to both sides in Insurgency, Security's Rifleman, Specialist and Support getting an SAR with a polymer ARM handguard while the Insurgents' Fighter, Striker, Militant and Machine Gunner get a proper wood-gripped ARM, both with the bipod as an optional attachment. Despite the difference in barrel length, the two are identical in function to one another. Update 1.4 for Insurgency: Sandstorm saw both return for each side's respective Gunner class, though this time the Insurgent's ARM has slightly different stats than Security's SAR (slightly higher velocity and penetration and slightly lower recoil) befitting its longer barrel.
• The Galil SAR, dubbed just the "SAR", could be found in the 41st-50th floors of the Chrysler Building in Parasite Eve during New Game Plus.
• Carlos carries a heavily modified Micro variant in Resident Evil: Apocalypse.

IMI/IWI Tavor

A lot of damage in a seriously compact package. Great for CQB or ranged encounters.

Description, Madness: Project Nexus

The Tavor is a relatively new, compact bullpup 5.56x45mm assault rifle designed by Israel Military Industries (now Israel Weapon Industries) for the Israeli military as a weapon that would be more reliable and better in close-quarters combat than the M4. First introduced in 2001, it has since shown up in very large numbers in fiction due to its futuristic appearance, either in the hands of special forces or (most bizarrely) terrorists. Like the P90, it was once rare outside of fiction, but a large number of orders have since been placed by various nations for it. It is considered the best of the current generation bullpups.

The Tavor has several main variants: the TAR-21 is the standard weapon, while the CTAR-21 is the "compact" short-barreled version, and the MTAR-21 (sometimes the "Micro Tavor") is the "micro" ultra-short barreled version. In 2009, the Israeli military chose the MTAR-21 to replace the M16 and M4 variants in service, and the first MTAR-21s were issued to infantry units in 2013. The MTAR-21 has since taken on something of a life of its own, being upgraded into the IWI X95 series that comes in various barrel lengths (13, 15, or 16.5-inch barrels, with SMG versions also coming with 11-inch barrels) and chamberings (standard 5.56mm NATO, as well as conversion kits or dedicated variants available in 9x19mm, 5.45x39mm, 5.56x30mm MINSAS, .300 AAC Blackout and 7.62x51mm NATO) and is more accepting of customization with rails both above the receiver and around the barrel. There are also two other variants of the original, the GTAR-21 with a notched barrel to accept the M203 grenade launcher, and the STAR-21 for designated marksman use with a folding bipod and attached ACOG.

One of the most interesting features of the weapon is that, unlike most other assault rifles, it comes standard-equipped with a combined red-dot scope and Laser Sight, the ITL MARS (Multi-purpose Aiming Reflex Sight); the battery for the scope itself is actually inside the rifle. Original prototype designs for the weapon didn't even have iron sights (they are on the production model). It's also one of the few bullpup designs designed to be configured for either right-handed or left-handed shooters, though the downside of this is that the standard cover for the unused ejection port has a tendency to leak gases and gunpowder residue from fired cartridges onto the shooter's face and down into their lungs, moreso when silenced (this is sometimes referred to as "Tavor face"; aftermarket covers are available to fix this).

A semi-automatic version of the rifle with a full-length top rail, the TC-21, became available for sale in Canada in 2008, followed by the United States in 2013, where it is known as the Tavor SAR. A Tavor 7 later arrived in 2018, which fires .308 Winchester rounds, using a short-stroke gas piston (rather than the original's AK-like long piston) to cut down on recoil and adding a notch at the rear of the cocking handle's path to let it lock back and be released with the HK Slap.

• The standard version and the prototype of the MTAR-21, converted to 9mm, are available in Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield, both of which are equipped with the MARS by default. The standard version returns for the Vegas games, once again with the MARS if an alternate scope isn't attached, often bizarrely showing up in the hands of terrorists (and, equally-bizarrely, referred to as the shorter MTAR in the first Vegas).
• In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, it has somehow ended up in the hands of the Russian Army, as well as Makarov's henchmen. The game interestingly makes use of the MARS, it showing up sporadically in singleplayer and being used as the weapon's unique model for the red dot sight in multiplayer.
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops II has the X95, used by Menendez's mercenaries, Pakistani ISI commandos, and is selectable by the player on the loadout screen as of the second 2025 mission; it also appears in multiplayer as the first assault rifle unlocked, as a higher-power but higher-recoil and slower-firing alternative to the QBZ.
  • Returns in Call of Duty: Ghosts, renamed the "MTAR-X" and with its textures claiming it's firing 5.45mm; despite this, it is now classified as an SMG, with fittingly-incorrect magazine capacities (32 in singleplayer, 38 in multi and 40 in Extinction). The OSA in the space portion of the opening level "Ghost Stories" use a unique version called the "MTAR-X2", which is fitted with a unique white skin and fires in three-round bursts.
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) features the gun again as of the first DLC season, renamed the "RAM-7" (named after the 7.62mm Tavor 7 variant), with a few alterations to the model including, for some reason, the replacement of the fire selector with the AUG's cross-bolt safety. The gun later returns in Modern Warfare III's Season 1 update. The season 2 update adds its 9mm SMG conversion of the Tavor as the RAM-9.
• Nikolai carries the CTAR 21 variant in Resident Evil: Apocalypse.
• Both Shin Kudo and Edgar LaSelle carry CTAR-21s in episodes 2 and 3 of Macross Zero, Shin's in particular having the peculiar addition of a folding/telescoping stock for no reason at all (most likely an animation error).
• Staff Sgt. John Lugo of Spec Ops: The Line uses a customized TAR-21 in addition to his Scout Tactical sniper rifle. After he gets lynched, Walker can find it and equip it for himself. It's something of a mixed bag, as no enemies carry it and ammo can be only found from executions or refills. But once you find enough ammo to use it consistently, it's an extremely good primary weapon, with the accuracy of the M4A1 combined with the power of the M249.
• The Baksha ASP Rifle from F.E.A.R. is a TAR-21, apparently chambered for 7.62mm NATO (a round that Tavor variants wouldn't come in until more than a decade later), with a 3x scope added and firing in three-round bursts, making it similar to Halo 2's Battle Rifle; it's not as accurate as the Type-7 Particle Weapon at a distance, but it's still a noticeable upgrade in power over the G2A2, with few enemies across the game requiring more than one burst. With a much-reduced capacity of 12 rounds, added select-fire capability, and another apparent rechambering for a fragmenting 5.2x30mm bullet, it returns as the "Kohler and Boch IDW-15 Semi-Auto Rifle" in F.E.A.R. 2's defunct multiplayer mode.
• Shows up with a left-handed charging handle in GoldenEye (Wii) as the Ivana Spec-R. Fires fast and hits hard as befitting being one of the last assault rifles (only shows up in appreciable numbers late in the campaign and the last weapon unlocked in multiplayer), though accuracy when hip-firing is surprisingly low.
• Deadshot and generic enemy snipers in Batman: Arkham City are armed with TAR-21s, which are given a massive barrel extension that apparently converts the normal 5.56mm rounds into .50-caliber ones (except for Deadshot's, which is treated as a unique and one-of-a-kind weapon - including apparently instead firing rounds used by the CheyTac Intervention - despite being the exact same model).
• The CTAR-21 shows up in Grand Theft Auto V as the "Advanced Rifle." It only becomes available for purchase after the last heist - though the player can get it for free, complete with a scope and extended magazines, if they choose the "Obvious" strategy for said heist.
• Used by the FIA guerillas in ARMA III, both the standard TAR and the short CTAR available, respectively as the TRG-21 and TRG-20, the former also available with an FN EGLM Grenade Launcher.
• The MTAR was added to Battlefield 3 with the "Close Quarters" DLC as an Engineer weapon, unlocked for completing the "My Own Terminator" assignment (a hundred kills with Engineer carbines and a kill with the EOD Bot after completing the earlier "Done Fixing" assignment). Battlefield 4 upgrades to the X95 version as an all-kit PDW with the "China Rising" DLC, this time unlocked for the "Multi-Talent" assignment (one kill each with an assault rifle, light machine gun, sniper rifle, and grenade launcher all in a single round).
• Featured in Girls' Frontline as a 4-star AR. Owing to the weapon's appearance, her outfit is suitably sleek and futuristic. Like Galil above, she is also part of Negev's squad in the story. A later update added X95 as well, as a 5-star SMG due to the weapon's shorter length; oddly, despite being even more recent than the base TAR-21, her outfit is much more traditional (including a talit over her outfit, even though outside of some progressive Jewish communities women wearing talits is extremely rare).
• The X95 with a 13-inch barrel was added to PAYDAY 2 as part of Crimefest 2018. As per the game's usual A.K.A.-47 rules, it is renamed the "Tempest-21"; before an update, however, it actually averted that trope for the most part and was called the "MTAR-21" (which was only technically incorrect, since the MTAR was the basis of the X95).
• Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and Phantoms both feature(d) the TAR-21, the former giving it a full-length top rail and barrel options to mirror the shorter CTAR and longer STAR, while the latter featured one with the original short rail as the "AR-21". The standard version also shows up in Ghost Recon Wildlands, coming with the CTAR's barrel by default (though with the standard barrel length as the long barrel option) and used by Los Extranjeros men with 20-round magazines.
• Insurgency: Sandstorm features a fully-automatic Tavor 7 as the Security Advisor's counterpart to the ACE 52.
• The TAR-21 appears in Urban Chaos: Riot Response as the "Compact Assault Rifle". It acts as the Burner equivalent to T-Zero's SCAR-inspired assault rifle and its automatic nature makes it better suited for close quarters.

M16/AR-15 rifle series

"What we fear most is the B-52 and the new little black weapon."

—A Viet Cong prisoner after the Battle of Ia Drang, 1965

The all-American assault rifle. ^note From top to bottom: M16A1, M16A2 and M16A4

The M16 has been the standard rifle of the US military since The Vietnam War, and is still in limited use with the military today, with licensed variants (particularly the Colt Canada C7) serving in various other militaries as well. Originally designed by Eugene Stoner as the Armalite AR-10 (7.62x51mm), and later AR-15 (5.56x45mm) rifles, the M16 was marketed originally by Colt, with current versions manufactured by many different companies. The elevated sight profile provided by the iconic carrying handle made the rifle much easier to control in automatic fire than the M14, and the AR's trademark "direct impingement" gas system eliminated the off-center recoil of a gas piston design, at the cost of leaving a large amount of by-product in the chamber, requiring more-frequent maintenance. Chambered in 5.56x45mm, the rifle is capable of making groups of less than 1 inch at 100 yards, also called MOA (Minute of Angle) accuracy. The platform originally caught on in Vietnam with ARVN regulars and US special operations forces, who received small numbers of pre-production XM16 and XM16E1 rifles for field evaluation, largely due to its light weight and the ghastly wounds inflicted upon enemy personnel by the weapon's rounds. This in large part was caused by the thin-jacketed, intentionally understabilized (the original rifling twist rate for the AR-15 was 1:12^note  1 complete turn of the rifling in 12 inches of barrel length; a rifling twist rate this wide is generally only used for lighter, much slower rimfire rounds) 55gr bullet striking at high velocity and fragmenting within the target. Later variants changed the rifling to 1:7, to stabilize a newer 62gr round, which balanced power, range, and penetration.

The M16 is sometimes depicted as horribly unreliable, though this is only actually true of the earliest production versions, which were issued without cleaning instructions or kits due to false rumors that the new high-tech rifle was "self-cleaning" (spread at least in part as intentional sabotage from the Army Ordnance Board, who initially wanted to go back to the M14), and ammunition that used a faster and dirtier-burning propellant than the rifle was designed for, which threw off the timing of the gas system and caused malfunctions, made worse by the lack of a chromed bore and chamber as a cost-saving measure^note Pre-production XM16s which didn’t suffer from cut corners functioned quite well under combat conditions and have stood the test of time remarkably well, as evidenced by this XM16E1. It was issued to the US-allied Royal Cambodian Army around 1967, saw years of hard use against the Dirty Communists, likely spent some time buried in the jungle to hide from the Khmer Rouge, may have also been utilized by them, and is still available as an issued RCA weapon today, despite having only a few scraps of its original finish over otherwise bare aluminum, and it still works pretty well.. The original M16 lacked a forward assist (the Army insisted on its addition, while the Air Force and Eugene Stoner himself didn't believe it was necessary), making it difficult to manually push the bolt forward if, say, the recoil spring couldn't force the bolt forward on its own^note There's some question over how useful the forward assist actually is, because forcing dirty ammunition into the chamber would make the rifle jam even sooner than if the user racked the non-reciprocating charging handle and ejected the dirty cartridge as a result. . Inevitably, the US Congress found out about soldiers' complaints, conducted an inquiry, and found that the mechanical problems and false rumors came from the Army Ordnance Department deliberately sabotaging the rifle just to make the private sector's guns look bad in an attempt to reinstate the Springfield Armory-built M14 as the main service rifle of all American armed forces. The resulting scandal, coupled with the problematic nature of the aforementioned M14 battle rifle (which Army Ordnance had touted as the ultimate rifle in spite of its obvious deficiencies in almost every role it was used in) and the disastrously fragile M60 general purpose machine gun (which was inadequately tested before its field deployment in Vietnam), ruined the reputation of the US Army Ordnance Corps, and said reputation has yet to recover since.

Major variants of the standard M16 include the M16A1, which improved the weapon by adding a forward assist, a chrome-lined chamber, and a new "bird cage"-style flash hider less prone to snagging on vegetation like the original "duckbill" one, amongst other things. The M16A2/A3, introduced in the 1980s, was a more major update, introducing a heavier barrel, adjustable sights, a stronger buttstock, a brass deflector by the ejection port, a circular handguard, and changed the rifling rate to 1:7. The A4 version introduces a removable carry handle and railed handguard, allowing for the attachment of accessories.

M16s^note The US Air Force was the first buyer of the rifle, to replace M1 carbines for sentry purposes, and did not accept the Army's A1 changes, M16A1s, and A3s are capable of semi and full automatic fire, while M16A2s and A4s replaced the full-auto function with a mechanically-limited three-round burst.

As it has been the basic combat rifle for the US and several other nations for about half a century, the M16 and its variants are fairly ubiquitous in popular culture, often used by the good guys in action movies.

Has a huge number of variant designs, including the M4 [see below]. The M16's 5.56mm caliber has since become the standard for all wealthy first-world nations, and even versions of the Russian AK and Chinese QBZ-95 have been made to fire that caliber. The gun is very popular in the US civilian firearms market, and dozens of manufacturers of different quality and price produce the AR, as well as its over 9000 different accessories and upper receivers of various lengths and calibers. The 16-inch-barrel AR-15 dominates the world of tactical shooting and 3-gun, in no small part due to its exceptional inherent accuracy, as well and being the gun that millions of shooters, who were formerly in the armed forces, learned to use. It is the favorite gun of Mall Ninjas and all other sorts of shooters. The modular nature of the AR-15 platform means that it's also easy to buy all the component parts and build your own, and some shooters prefer to do exactly that.

Contrary to popular belief, it is frequently claimed that “AR” stands for “Assault Rifle.” Actually, it’s just short for “ARmalite.” The company called all of its designs “AR-__” (civilian AR type rifles are by definition not assault rifles since they are semi-auto only; select-fire AR type rifles, while legal, are absurdly expensive and require extensive paperwork and a government-mandated background check to acquire).

• Cool Action:
  • The "tap and slap," sometimes seen in military-based films where the soldier who is reloading lightly taps the top of the magazine on his helmet before inserting the magazine into the rifle (this is to ensure the rounds are stacked correctly and prevent misfeeds)^note Because of STANAG magazines' staggered stacking of cartridges, they were somewhat prone to the rounds misaligning if the mag was jerked heavily enough. The tap is to let the rounds rearrange themselves under the pressure of the follower. and hits the bolt release paddle with his palm, though in more modern media it's often shortened to just slapping the bolt release, usually with just a thumb. This is also done with the M4. The tap action might end up being performed with any gun on the simple basis that it looks badass but is particularly associated with the M16.
  • The magazine release button is meant to be actuated with the trigger finger while the other hand changes the magazine. More modern depictions build on this to dramatically flick the gun to the side, throwing the old mag out and slamming the new one in, sometimes with a quick chamber check to make sure there is no malfunction and see the bolt going home. This can be done with many other weapons that adopt the AR-15's manual of arms and have similar placement of the mag release. As an extra benefit, this also prevents unintentional discharge since the user is required to get his trigger finger off the trigger at the very start of the reloading cycle.
• Trivia: The weapon is often erroneously referred to in text-based sources with a hyphen between the letter and numbers (i.e. "M-16"); this happens with just about every American M-number weapon system (the M16 is the most frequent victim because it's the most well-known one), but officially there are no such hyphens in any of their names.
• Pretty much any video game in a modern war setting will include a member of the AR-15 family.
• Any work set during The Vietnam War will almost invariably feature the M16. It's almost 50-50 whether the early reliability issues will be acknowledged (in which case the gun will never make it through a full magazine without jamming) or not.
• "Say hello to my little friend!" Tony Montana of Scarface (1983) uses this with an underbarrel grenade launcher to mount a final stand against Sosa's assassins.
  • Pacino accidentally grabbed the exposed segment of the barrel and burned the shit out of his hand during filming.
• Most of the Marines in American Sniper carry standard issue M16A4s.
• Among the many, many weapons used by Mack Bolan.
• Shows up in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater as the XM16E1, despite being set before the introduction of the weapon. A Hand Wave explains that the Russians must have stolen one of the experimental versions, which has been modified to accept suppressors and to switch between automatic fire, semi-automatic fire and three round burst fire (real select-fire AR-15s typically only go for semi-auto and one of the other two, not both, and modifications to have all three are rare because the design of the AR-15 selector switch means the easiest way to go about it is to eschew a "safe" position entirely). This does nothing to explain why they have so many suppressors for the weapons lying around, or the completely incompatible ammunition in every armory and the pockets of nearly every soldier you shake down.
  • Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker has the M16A1 as the MSF's standard issue assault rifle, as well as a common weapon for Peace Sentinel troops. Several variants can be developed by the player, allowing for suppressors, Laser Sights and underslung grenade launchers and shotguns.
• Duke Togo uses a scoped variant with a custom cheek pad.
  • In a Shout-Out, the Sniper Rifle in Unreal Tournament is also a custom scoped and long-barreled M16. Which is presumably firing a much bigger bullet than in real life, as it has enough recoil to point itself 90 degrees upwards in its firing animation, and can completely remove a target's head with one shot.
• Carried by the guards in Escape from New York and one is also use by the president in his CMOA at the end, notable in that for some bizarre reason, the handguards had been removed from all of them.
  • And in the sequel Escape from L.A., the rifle given to Snake before he goes into the city is a cut down M16 with a scope and some kibble added to make it look futuristic.
• The M16A2 plays a big part in Operation Flashpoint, where it's the standard rifle of the U.S. soldiers and is given to the player in 90% of the missions. At one point, one of the other soldiers in the player's unit proclaims his admiration of it, saying: "It's beautiful. How could you not love it?" However, the M16A2 would have been inaccurate for that time period; the M16A1 would have been more correct.
  • Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising features the M16A4 in several configurations, as well as the M4A1. ArmA and ArmA II also feature both the M16A2 and A4, with options of various optics and/or a grenade launcher. ARMA III's "Katiba 6.5mm" is modeled after the Iranian KH2002 version, modified with a G36C-style carry handle and rechambered for 6.5mm bullets.
• The Battlefield 2 mod Project Reality features the M16A4 as the primary weapon of the US Marine Corps faction, with an optional M203 launcher, ACOG scope, red dot sight, or a bayonet for when things get up close and personal. The Hamas faction likewise gets several variants of the M16A1, with options of an A2 handguard, M203, or a scope.
  • In normal Battlefield 2, the M16A2 with an attached M203 is the primary weapon for the USMC's Assault class, and the Medic class for both them and Special Forces' Navy SEALs get one without the launcher.
  • Battlefield: Bad Company has the M16A4; in the first game it incorrectly fires full-auto and is a somewhat common weapon in use with Legionnaires, in the second it's properly firing in bursts and is the final weapon unlocked for the Assault class (as such, a camouflaged version is also available with the "SPECACT" DLC). It's also improperly named in both games, as simply the M16 in the first game and the A2 in the second.
  • Battlefield 3 is notable in that it includes both the full-auto M16A3 and the three-round-burst M16A4; they're well-liked despite being respectively the opening gun for the USMC's Assault (and the last unlock for their Russian counterpart) and one of the earliest unlocks, due to having the fastest reload among their class and being second-best at basically every other attribute. Getting enough points in the Co-Op mode also unlocks an Iranian-made bullpup based on the weapon, the KH2002, which also makes occasional appearances in singleplayer. Battlefield 4 has just the A4 returning as a collectible weapon in the campaign and the last assault rifle unlocked through scoring points with weapons in its class in multiplayer.
• Featured in all three Modern Warfare games, though it's a rare sight outside of multiplayer, where it is the first-unlocked assault rifle in the first and third games and one of the best guns of its class in the second; the campaigns tend to only make use of it in a single mission per game, as well as making it fire full-auto.
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops and its sequel both feature the original USAF M16. The former's multiplayer has it incorrectly fire in bursts like the A4 in the Modern Warfare games, and also makes it unreasonably rare for the time period (you only get it in three missions, one before it was even widely adopted). The latter features it as the recommended weapon for the last flashback mission and refers to it as the later M16A1 (which isn't even wrong for the right reasons; the A2 would have been standard-issue by the invasion of Panama, and given the close-range urban combat of the level it probably would have made more sense for a shortened Colt carbine like the prototype XM4 to show up instead).
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) allows for the basic M4 to be fitted with a solid stock and a 20-inch barrel, either with a modern railed handguard or a classic M203 heat shield, which effectively turns it into an M16A3, or an A4 if one also attaches the Burst weapon perk.
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War features two variants, the campaign featuring an XM16E1 misidentified as the M16A1 in a pair of Vietnam flashback levels and the M16A2 available in multiplayer, anachronistically so as typical for Black Ops (the game is primarily set in 1981, no branch of the US military adopted the A2 until two years later), where it's classified as a "tactical rifle" given its burst fire.
  • Another M16A4^note technically an A3 programmed to fire in bursts to differentiate it from the starting M4, since the markings on the lower receiver (including the third position on the fire selector being labeled "AUTO") are from an A3 returns for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II as the last weapon in the "M4 Platform", unlocked by leveling the 556 Icarus machine gun; it's also once again possible to fit the M4 with a solid stock and 20-inch barrel to effectively make an M16A3, though the A4-style removable carry-handle sight is only available on the M16.
• The flamethrower in Aliens was made from cut-up M16 receivers and an M203 handguard.
• The A2, incorrectly firing in full-auto, is used in both Left 4 Dead games, with a 50 round magazine and a 600/650RPM fire rate.
• Fitting for a Vietnam veteran, The Punisher has an M16A1 as part of his arsenal, sometimes fitted with the M203. The original M16 shows up in one issue so Frank can bitch about how it was a useless piece of plastic crap that got GIs killed in Vietnam. As he stated once, "break the stock over someone's head and that's all you've done." We get to see the original M16 in action in The Punisher MAX: The Platoon, where Frank's first command experience infuriating jamming issues during a muddy and rainy battle. This leads to them handing vast quantities of captured AKs in exchange for a large amount of M14s, which Frank uses to re-equip the platoon (who are still familiar with its operation).
• The 1980s run of The Mighty Thor has long-standing villain Skurge the Executioner dual-wield M16s as he held the line at Gjallerbru against the forces of Hel, so that the heroes can escape. This act of Heel–Face Turn eventually earned him a place in Valhalla.
  • Re-enacted in all its glory (of sorts) in Thor: Ragnarok, with Skurge holding off Hela's zombie hordes with his M16s (which he named "Des" and "Troy"^NoteIn Skurge's own words: You see, when you put them together... they "DesTroy") so that the remaining Asgardians can escape.
• Sometimes used by The A-Team.
• The M16 is a late-game weapon in Black. A version with an integrated M203 is the weapon of choice for the Harder Than Hard difficulty, the final unlockable, and a nifty Bragging Rights Reward.
• The rifles used by the zombified soldiers in Doom are modeled on the M16. The Brutal Doom mod replaces the pistol with one of these, making it quite a step up from the classic pistol.
• The "Service Rifle" in Fallout: New Vegas, and by extension the unique 12.7mm "Survivalist's Rifle" in Honest Hearts, is a full size AR-15 variant with red Bakelite or wood furniture (often associated with Sudanese versions of the AR-10). It also features a charging handle on the side (the AR-18 is the only AR variant that has this) for some reason. It's also worth noting that this charging handle is mounted directly to the bolt or its carrier, but the ejection port has not been lengthened to allow for the travel of the charging handle, therefore the bolt wouldn't be able to cycle far enough back to extract or chamber a 5.56 round. In other words, it couldn't possibly work.
• On Sons of Guns Vince and Will assemble and test several AR-15 variants with a lightweight design (partially through selected parts, partially through the elimination of accessories) called the Katana.
• 7.62 High Calibre features the M16, as well as numerous variants (chief among them the CAR-15, which is available earlier). The 5.56mm round is acceptable for shooting at long range, but the M4 hits the perfect balance between accuracy and compact size to make it useful in a wide variety of situations. The Blue Sun mod adds even more, including semi-auto variants.
• The M16A4 with M203 underneath is Eldritch's preferred weapon in the Whateley Universe. And she has super strength, so she can carry around a lot of ammo. Even on campus.
• The M16A2 is available in the first three Rainbow Six games, debuting in the first game as Team Rainbow's only real higher-powered or longer-ranged alternative to their usual MP5s, though only being able to fire in three-round bursts rather than full-auto to compensate. After disappearing entirely for Lockdown and Vegas, Siege with the Operation Velvet Shell update adds a version of the Colt Canada C7 used by the military of the Netherlands as a primary weapon for the GEO operator Jackal, incorrectly able to fire both full-auto and in three-round bursts.
• The M16A2 and a lot of its variants are used heavily in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
• As the standard weapon of the US Army, the M16 is seen wielded by soldiers deployed during a terrorist threat in The Siege. When General Devereaux explains of how he would proceed if ordered to deploy, he refers to the M16A1^note The A2 was in use at the time. as "a humble enough weapon until you see it in the hands of a man outside your local bowling alley or 7-11."
• The M16A1 is given to Aya after the prologue of Parasite Eve when Da Chief authorizes you to take a heavy weapon out of the police precinct's armory. In a New Game Plus in the Chrysler Building, you can also find an M16A2.
• A short-barreled, full-auto M16A4 (more properly an R0901, which basically is a full-auto M16A4) appears in PAYDAY 2, as the AMR-16. Among the plethora of sights, magazines and other accessories shared among most weapons, it can be modded with the full 20-inch barrel and an M16A1 foregrip, alongside replacement upper and lower receivers to boost damage. Notably, attaching an optic, much like in the Call of Duty series, removes the front sight and its built-in gas block, which would render the weapon unable to cycle in real life.
• Mad Dog got the chance to use an M16A1/M203 combination in the hospital shootout in Hard Boiled. In some cases, he uses a buckshot shell to make it like a powerful shotgun.
• Shows up in Cry of Fear, a hybrid between the military M16A2 (the fixed carry handle with adjustable rear sight, its ability to fire in three-round bursts) and the civilian Stag Arms AR-15 (no bayonet lug under the front sight, the semi-auto mode is labeled on the receiver as simply "Fire" rather than "Semi"). It's rather rare, but it's possibly your most powerful option in normal gameplay, being the only weapon in the game that's bigger than the shotgun, and being capable of automatic firing in some form but not restricted from semi-auto like the VP70 or the donators-only MP9.
• Red Dwarf. John F. Kennedy uses one to assassinate himself when the crew bring him back from a Bad Future to restore the timeline to normal. Try not to think too hard about the logistics of this one.
• One of the main leads of Upotte!!, Ichiroku, is the personification of the M16A4. She has a habit of keeping herself clean due to her rifle's constant need for cleanliness - the others at one point comment on how, whereas they spent the day picking up garbage while she didn't, she still spent four times as long in the bath as any of them that night, and the one time she isn't careful and starts jamming (from eating a chicken nugget that was overloaded with spice [i.e. firing a bullet that was too dirty]), she does so on every single shot. She also moonlights as a model, as the M16 series is a very popular line of rifles.
• In Jagged Alliance and Deadly Games, an "M-16" (really an AR-15 as it's semi-automatic only, M16s have select-fire) appears as one of the high-end weapons. Jagged Alliance 2 gives us the Canadian C7 instead with the "Canuck Motto" of "Anything the Yanks can do, we can do better". Back in Action switches to a proper M16, although the variant is unknown - while the description text claims it is the M16A4 with flat-top receiver, and the ingame model bears this out by losing the carry handle when optics are put on it, the actual inventory image for it shows it with a fixed original M16 or M16A1 carry handle/sight (and it's mirrored for some reason too, so other parts like a forward assist or brass deflector aren't visible to determine the exact model).
• The M16A1 is used by many characters in Kong: Skull Island, including both the explorers and G.Is. Captain Cole in particular performs the tap and slap when giving a spare magazine to Warrant Officer Mills.
• The M16A1 is the standard-issue primary weapon for many of Tim O'Brien's platoon in The Things They Carried. They also carry cleaning kits for the gun when available and occasionally a bandolier of 12 to 20 spare magazines depending on the situation.
• A heavily customized, red-and-gold AR-15 is used by Deadshot in Suicide Squad (2016).
• Killing Floor 2 added a full-auto M16A4 as of the "Tactical Response" update, fitted with an M203 grenade launcher to make it a cross-class weapon between the Commando and Demolitionist.
• Shadowrun has the Colt M22A2, which is basically a futuristic version of the M16A4 except it has a fixed, sniper-style stock for better control and optimization. It is a favorite among most runners in-universe for use as a general-purpose weapon.
• Both AR-15 and M16A1 appears as members of the Anti Rain squad in Girls' Frontline. Being the oldest of the bunch, M16 acts as a mentor and big sister figure to the rest of the squad. Her kit is rather odd; instead being a Jack of All Stats damage dealer like other ARs, she can be built into an efficient tank instead. On the other hand, AR-15 is explicitly based on Spike's Tactical AR-15s. In other words, she is the only non-military firearm in the team, something she is not proud of. The AR-15's modularity is referenced by her extra accessory slot and the fact that she often change parts between costumes.
• The basic rifle for the Security team in Insurgency is the M16A4, correctly firing in semi-auto or three-round bursts.^*Although, like in most games, it fires all three bullets with a single tap of the trigger, rather than the real weapon's working more like full-auto with a mechanical limit stopping it after every third bullet. It suffers in close quarters compared to the M4A1 or the Mk 18 owing to its long barrel and burst-fire limit, but for medium- to long-range encounters it excels due to its longer barrel giving it better reach and higher damage than them, and its low cost (only one supply point for the gun itself, compared to 3 or 4 for its shorter brothers) means it's easier to customize extensively, particularly able to make it into a budget DMR with the right scope. It's also issued more extensively, as the Rifleman, Sniper, Designated Marksman, Demolitions, and Specialist classes can all make use of it.
• The M16A1 is available for the US Army, US Marine, Australian Army, and ARVN factions in Rising Storm 2: Vietnam.
• The M16A1 is used by weasel guards in the Heist chapter of Conker's Bad Fur Day, and is a usable weapon in the Deathmatch mode of multiplayer.
• Far Cry 5 adds an M16A1 with the Vietnam-set Hours of Darkness campaign, which can also be used in the main game by owning said DLC.
• Appears in Agent Under Fire as the Windsor FSU4. It's outfitted with an underbarrel grenade launcher and incorrectly comes in 40 round magazines. Bond's first encounter with it is against the Jackal, who unlike the mooks that would use it in a later level, WILL use the underbarrel grenade launcher against him for a quick restart. Bond's second encounter with the M16 is the mission "Fire and Water", carried by common mooks. In multiplayer, it is often used by players due to the grenade launcher. The AI, however never uses this feature.

M16/AR-15 carbines

A shortened carbine model of the M16. It is the mainstay of U.S. Special Forces, but its high performance has led to its adoption by elite units in numerous other countries as well. Uses 5.56 ammo and carries a 30-round magazine. Its rail system makes it highly expandable with a variety of sights, grenade launchers and other add-ons. With a multitude of custom parts, this assault rifle can be used in virtually any situation.

—Description, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Compact and highly customizable version of the American classic. ^note  From top to bottom: Colt Model 609 (aka XM177E1), M4A1 Carbine

After the US military adopted the M16 as its primary service rifle, Colt looked to developing a compact variant of the weapon for use with special forces and commandos. The result was the CAR-15 (Colt Automatic Rifle-15), or Colt Commando series of carbines, which entered service in the early 1960s. Compared to the regular M16, the CAR-15 series had shortened barrels, with later versions adding cylindrical handguards and telescoping buttstocks. The shortened barrel was found to negatively affect performance and muzzle blast, so a long "moderator" was attached to the end of the barrel, to reduce muzzle flash and sound.

After the Vietnam War, Colt continued to develop M16 carbines (albeit without the moderator^note The moderator doesn't decrease the sound enough to be subsonic, but enough for the ATF to consider it a sound suppressor, limiting its sales.), selling them to other countries, with a small number adopted by the US military for special forces use. These carbines were built in many different configurations and forms based on user requests and requirements.

In the 1980s, Colt decided to develop a standardized variant of the M16 carbine, combining the best characteristics of the M16 and the many previous carbines. Thus, in 1994, the M4 carbine, with a 14.5-inch barrel, entered service with the US military. The standard M4 can fire in semi-auto and 3-round bursts, while the M4A1 fires in full-auto. The earliest versions kept the built-in carry handle and rear sight of earlier M16 variants, though very early on a removable carry handle with sight rails and a railed handguard were introduced, allowing one to mount accessories of their choice.

Since its introduction, the M4 has come to supplant other weapons in U.S. military usage and even the M16 both in real life (the shorter length improving maneuverability in enclosures such as vehicles or buildings) and moreso in fictional depictions. The shorter barrel does reduce the effective range of the weapon, and the reduced velocity meant that until recently, the 5.56mm bullet was less prone to fragmenting inside the target's body; the M16's 20-inch barrel is just about the perfect length to cause reliable fragmentation in the NATO-standard loading of 5.56mm, a problem eventually fixed for the M4 line by the introduction of the M855A1 round). The M4A1 has replaced the M16A2 as the US military's main service rifle, with surplus M16A2s going to American allies, National Guard units and state police forces, but the older rifles have all been since replaced by the M4 in the US, and the M4 is gradually replacing the M16 internationally. The US Marine Corps continued to use the M16A4 as their standard rifle, although they did issue the M4 as standard for Force Recon and in place of the M9 pistol to some officers. From October 2015 onwards, a general switch to the M4A1 was approved, as it apparently outperformed the full-size M16 when using open-tip AB49/MK318 rounds, and presently the M4A1 is the Marine service rifle.

Thanks to the AR-15's modular nature, Colt Carbines come in a variety of models and configurations, with different receivers, accessories, and barrels. The most common barrel lengths are 14.5^*most famously the M4, but also the Model 653 and its derivatives like the 727 and 723 and 16^*for civilians, such as the AR-15 Sporter Carbines inches, while 11.5,^*the XM177 and its derivatives 10.5^*derivatives of the Model 609 and 10.3^*the Mk 18 CQBR inch barrels can also be found. Different manufacturers also create their own versions of the carbine, with the most common alteration being the use of a gas piston operation rather than the original direct impingement system to supposedly improve reliability; such weapons include the earlier-mentioned HK416 and HK417, Bushmaster M4 Type Carbine, LWRC M6, and Barrett REC7.

• Used in many television shows (such as The Unit) and movies (such as S.W.A.T.) involving firearms. If it involves special forces, it's even more likely to appear.
• The M4 appears in almost equal numbers to MP5 submachine guns in the hands of police SWAT teams in films and television. These M4's are hardly ever seen without some sort of accessory, be it flashlights, laser pointers, or some sort of red dot sight or close-range scope (sometimes all of the above!).
• More recent stories have depicted Frank Castle replacing his classic M16A1 with a M4A1. Which he usually has outfitted with all manner of accessories such as an underslung grenade launcher, suppressor, red dot sight and etc.
• Shows up plenty of times in American Sniper, mostly in the hands of Army troops, Navy SEALs, and Private Military Contractors.
• Also in a number of video and computer games such as Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Snake's signature weapon is the "M4 Custom" due to being the most customizable weapon in the game), America's Army (where there's both a regular M4A1 Carbine and a customizable M4A1 exclusive for Special Forces missions), Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon games, the SOCOM series... if it's a military-themed shooter, an M4 or M4A1 variant is most likely in it.
• Special mention should be made of the M4 in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, where, in the campaign, the SAS uses the M4 SOPMOD (Special Operations Peculiar MODification), which includes an infrared laser, suppressor, Grenade Launcher and some variety of optic.^note Fun note, though: it's actually an AR-15A3 Tactical Carbine, a semi-auto-only civilian version. About the only physical difference is a 16-inch barrel without the "step" for the front attachment point of the M203. In Modern Warfare Remastered it's now a proper M4A1.
  • While the version in Modern Warfare 2 is often mistaken for an HK416, it's actually an M4 S-System, an airsoft gun developed by the Tokyo Marui Model Company that was based on the real weapon. It's essentially an M4 with an ARMS Selected Interface Rail, a PRI folding front sight and an ARMS #40L rear sight.
  • Black Ops features a CAR-15 amalgamation (most closely resembling the Air Force's GAU-5A/A) as the "Commando"; it's apparently a customized model, replacing the carrying handle with an M4-style flat top rail. It's oddly modeled with a sling wrapped around it, not attached to anything and with one end tucked behind the bolt release, which would prevent the bolt from closing properly to actually fire. It's also, like several of the other "prototype" weapons in the game, fitted with an anachronistic Troy Industries Battle Sight.
  • Modern Warfare 3 also keeps an M4 stylistically similar to the MW2 version. It should also be noted that a modeling mistake in every previous game has an essential component to the weapon's operation (the gas block) removed along with the front sight when the player mounts alternate optics; MW3 is the first game to keep a low-profile gas block on an M4 with optics.
  • After a no-show for several games, it returns for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) as the basic assault rifle, modeled by default as the shorter Model 933 and with several alternate attachments to turn it into other versions, including the shorter Mk 18 and or a full-sized M16A3, and with alternate ammo types to convert it to .458 SOCOM or 9x19mm.
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War brings back the "Commando", this time based on the XM177 and referring to it as the XM4, with all the same technical oddities and anachronisms, including the fact that the XM4 designation wouldn't exist for another two years; somewhat oddly, a much more accurate XM4 can be made out of the M16 with the "16.3" Titanium" barrel and "Commando Assembly" stock, differing from the real thing only in the barrel being a little too long and lacking the step cut for an M203.
  • It's naturally featured again in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, this time as the progenitor for an entire family of AR-derived weapons, including another variant in .458 SOCOM named the "FTac Recon" and classified as a battle rifle (although .458 is more of a particularly large intermediate cartridge). Interestingly, it's also possible to turn the M16 into a facsimile of the original burst-fire M4 by giving it a shortened barrel and adjustable stock.
• Used by the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasures Squad in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis; in CG cutscenes it appears unmodified, but the in-game model and inventory icon show it kitted out with a foregrip, a bipod ahead of that, an Aimpoint red dot scope, and a backup rear iron sight. On the easiest difficulty, Jill starts with a fully-loaded one and a spare magazine for it, which thanks to the classic games' use of percentage-based ammo counts for automatic weapons, effectively gives you six hundred bullets for it.
• The M4 appears as the primary weapon of the USMC's Special Forces class in Battlefield 2, fitted with a red dot scope (which interestingly makes the front sight disappear when aiming). After a no-show in the Bad Company spinoffs (asides from being on the cover of the second game), it returns as an Engineer weapon in Battlefield 3 and 4. Like above, 3 is notable for including both the full-auto M4A1 as the starting USMC Engineer carbine (and as such the last unlock for the RGF Engineer) and the original burst-fire M4 as a later unlock for both sides; 4 is even more so for completely eschewing the full-auto version.
• Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) and Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) use CAR-15s in Heat. McCauley uses the Model 654 during the armored car robbery, then switches to the shorter-barreled 733 for the infamous bank heist, while Shiherlis uses the 733 in both.
• In the Killzone series, the LR300 (now known as the Para-Ordinance Tactical Target Rifle), an M4 variant using a patented gas system with no recoil buffer tube to allow the mounting of a side-folding stock, becomes the M82-G Assault Rifle◊ used by the ISA. The M82-G has an early production handguard, and is shown as a bullpup (which would be unlikely to function in real life, given how far back the magazine is). In the first game it has a non-functional tube reflex sight and an M203 grenade launcher; in the second, an EOTech holographic reflex sight and what appears to be a flashlight replacing the grenade launcher.
• This is Max Payne's most powerful automatic weapon (apart from the Jackhammer).
• A popular weapon in Counter-Strike, it is the standard assault rifle of the Counter-Terrorist team. It was an M4A1 until Global Offensive changed it to the shorter-barreled Mk. 18 Mod 0 (under the name "M4A4"); a later update added the similar Model 723 as a silence-able, slightly-cheaper (before later patches upped its cost to the same as and then higher than the Mk. 18) but lower-capacity alternative.
• Two versions appear in Fallout: New Vegas, the "Assault Carbine" in the game's fictional 5mm round based on the Colt Model 733, while the "Marksman Carbine" in the original 5.56mm is a longer-barreled copy of the Model 933, fitted with an ACOG-like scope and a PRS stock more commonly associated with the SR-25 sniper rifle. The Marksman Carbine also has a unique variant hidden in the armory of the irradiated and ghoul-infested Vault 34, the "All-American" - this one has slightly higher damage, rate of fire, mag capacity and accuracy, and comes with a camo pattern and the emblem of the US Army's 82nd Airborne regiment printed on the magwell; this is rather odd considering that the setting takes place in post-apocalyptic Nevada, where the terrain is primarily desert, and a wood camouflage isn't exactly the right kind of decoration for a weapon in such a location.
• King of Thorn: Colt M4A1s are seen in the hands of American soldiers patrolling the US-Mexican border and SAS operators during Operation Sleeping Beauty. Marco Owen takes a M4 from a dead SAS operator for himself which is later taken by ALICE mimicking Laura Owen. All of these rifles are fitted with EOTech holographic sights, AN/PEQ-2 illuminator/lasers and a forward handgrip.
• The M4A1 appears in PAYDAY: The Heist as the "AMCAR-4", your starting primary weapon. It can be fitted with a flash hider, extended magazines and a holographic sight. It returns as simply the "CAR-4" for PAYDAY 2 as one of the most versatile assault rifles in the game (able to be modified for high concealment, high damage, and/or high accuracy), alongside the Model 733 taking up the old "AMCAR" name as the starting primary weapon (and possibly the worst), and the secondary "Para" submachine gun is an Olympic Arms K23 carbine with aspects of several other similar ultra-short CAR-15 derivatives, and with attachments able to make it a somewhat-close approximation of the Mk. 18. Later DLC has added other derivatives, including Taran Tactical Innovations' TR-1 Ultra-light (mocked up as a .308 rifle and fitted with a scope to serve as a semi-auto sniper rifle) as the "Contractor .308" with the John Wick Heists pack.
• The Half-Life HD Pack replaces the original MP5 with a Colt Model 727: a version of the Model 723 "M16A2 Carbine" with a redesigned barrel for use with the M203 grenade launcher.
• Takedown: Red Sabre includes multiple variations of the M4 for the player's use, from the standard M4A1 to a shorter-barreled "PDW" version or the Mk. 18 CQBR and the similar long-barreled LWRC M6 in various alternate calibers.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has the LR300 rifle (named as TRs-301) as a mid-game NATO weapon. Among the NATO weapons, it is considered a Jack of All Stats in that it can accept any attachment (for Western weapons, of course) without having to pay for tiered upgrades, and utilizing the more powerful 5.56 round which becomes ubiquitous in the later levels of the three games. The only shortfall of this gun is its sub-par reliability, as is stereotypical with both AR-15 style rifles and with NATO weapons in general compared to WarPac ones.
• The M4A1 with an M203 is used by the Winter Soldier as one of his three weapons of choice in the film, the others being a Sig Sauer P226 and a Skorpion.
• The S.W.A.T. series makes plenty use of these and similar weapons - SWAT 2 frequently arms the bad guys with the LR300, while SWAT 3 lets the player use an M4A1 with varied combinations of sights, a suppressor, and/or a 100-round drum magazine. SWAT 4 features the M4A1 again with a foregrip and a flashlight as a good all-rounder.
• You can find an XM177E2 in Parasite Eve during New Game Plus in the Chrysler Building's 61st to 70th floors. An M4A1 is available early on in the sequel and it is easily one of the most useful and versatile weapons in the game, owing largely to the high number of attachments you can put on it.
• Perfect Dark Zero features the Model 727 as the "FAC-16"; it's essentially a straight upgrade from the earlier DW-P5 SMG (which was itself an upgrade on the P9P Sniper Pistol you start with), featuring the same scope on the carry handle and detachable silencer alongside even higher capacity, better damage, and a grenade launcher.
• The Delta Force series of games features the M4 or similar weapons like the Model 733 as one of the available primary weapons. In the earlier games, it's pretty much the best gun in the game, as it comes with a scope and an M203 or Masterkey depending on the game, has a thirty round magazine, provides more spare mags than any other weapon, and all enemies are One Hit Point Wonders, making the extra firepower provided by sniper rifles and the M249 essentially unnecessary except at extreme ranges.
• Most Ubisoft games as of 2012 seem to like using the similar Patriot Ordnance Factory P416, which is at least advertised as one of the first piston-driven AR-15 derivatives. Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and Far Cry 3 introduced it to their games (the former using it under the name "Goblin"), and since then the gun, usually reusing the FC3 model and the "Goblin" name, has also shown up in Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Far Cry 4, and Watch_Dogs.
  • Far Cry 5, ironically considering its series' extensive recycling of weapon models since 3, features a new conglomeration of AR-15 parts as the "AR-C", now featuring as the standard weapon of the bad guys rather than a late-game upgrade over the generic AKs from the first half (true to life, since the game takes place in America and AR-pattern rifles are arguably the most popular long guns in the US civilian market, with estimates of there being anywhere between 5 to 15 million of them among the public). Also features in a longer-barreled DMR variation called the "AR-CL".
• Present in Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix, and in fact is the only assault rifle you can choose in the loadout in the second mission. It always comes with an M203 grenade launcher attached (even though the worldmodel doesn't have it, and enemies never employ it), and though it has the least bullet spread of all three rifles, it has a ridiculous muzzle climb that wouldn't be out of place in a gun firing 7.62x51mm NATO, greatly limiting its usefulness.
• The M4A1 shows up in Spec Ops: The Line as Captain Martin Walker's weapon, as well as being used by many 33rd soldiers. It's a bog-standard assault rifle for the most part, but arguably one of the best weapons in the game for having better range than the AK-47 and the ability to be suppressed. Ammo for it is short at first in the early chapters, but eventually becomes abundant in later chapters. Curiously, the barrel of Walker's M4A1 is slightly longer than a real M4A1. It also ejects comically-oversized casings when firing and is fitted with two rear sights for some reason, one of which is mounted backwards for good measure.
• Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto V have the M4A1 show up as the "Carbine Rifle"^note Which is a contradiction, as a carbine is distinct from a full-sized rifle. It has a slower rate of fire than the AK, but makes up for it with better accuracy and range.
• Rainbow Six, as above, has also made extensive use of the M4. The short-barreled CAR-15 was in the first two games, as a middle ground between the MP5 and the M16A2, then in Raven Shield the team switched to the M4A1. Vegas 2 features the similar Barrett M468, the ill-fated predecessor to the aforementioned REC7 (came solely in 6.8x43mm SPC and kept the AR-15's direct impingement system), while Siege includes Remington's R4-C, the Colt Model 933 with an M26 underbarrel shotgun as of Operation Black Ice, and finally a Block II M4A1 with a slightly shorter barrel from Operation Grim Sky.
• Persona 5: Yusuke Kitagawa's long range weapons of choice are various assault rifle models, one of which is based on the M4 called the "AR-M4".
• Shows up a lot in the DC Extended Universe, used by the military in Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (most notably, by the SWAT team that arrests Lex Luthor at the end of the film) and Suicide Squad. Also used in Suicide Squad by one of The Joker's henchmen (the one wearing the Batman mask) and by Amanda Waller against the Big Bad's henchmen. Joker and his henchmen also carry them when they break Harley Quinn out of Belle Reve at the end of the film.
• Killing Floor added two versions of the M4A1 with the 2011 Twisted Christmas event, one version for the Commando with a red dot sight, and one version for Demolitions with an underbarrel M203; the former is also available with a digital desert camo pattern with one of the DLC packs.
• The Colt M23 from Shadowrun is a futuristic M4-style carbine that is essentially a stripped-down M22A2. It is usually cheaper and slightly more common than the latter, and serves as a good mid-tier rifle among runners.
• The first Far Cry game featured the Model 727, incorrectly referred to as the M4, as the first assault rifle you get in the beginning portions of the game. Much later, towards the end of the game, you get stripped of all your weapons as you get captured by the Big Bad and then get booted off his helicopter into a jungle with a few monkey Trigens. To show that he's not without a heart, the Big Bad drops off one of these with 10 rounds for you to try fending off the Trigens that give you chase. The Far Cry Classic Updated Re-release replaces it with a proper M4 (at least its first-person model, as the third-person one is still the old 727 with a hastily-added railed handguard).
• As befitting its focus on American special forces, the Ghost Recon series makes extensive use of these sorts of weapons:
  • The original game and its trilogy of expansions feature the M4A1 as the primary weapon for the Demolitions kit, fitted with a red dot sight. It's full-auto capable compared to the Assault's M16A4 being limited to three-round bursts, but it doesn't get an option of a grenade launcher (most explosives that kit gets are meant for completing mission objectives rather than just multiplying his firepower against enemy infantry). Island Thunder adds a tricked-out variation for the Assault kit called the "M4 SOCOM", which is fitted with a suppressor and a red dot scope, and modified to fire both full-auto and in three-round bursts.
  • The Advanced Warfighter duology feature the Barrett M468 in the console versions. In the first game it comes with a red dot scope and is available in either its normal version with a suppressor, or with DLC a version with the prototype XM320 Grenade Launcher attached, while the second allows the player their choice to fit any of the three.
  • Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, as mentioned above, includes the Patriot Ordnance Factory P416 under the "Goblin" name as one of the starting Personal Defense Rifles for the Ghosts. Weaker and less accurate than other options owing to its short barrel and low caliber, but it's one of the most versatile, able to be set up for just about any situation.
  • Appears in Ghost Recon Wildlands. A regular M4A1 can be obtained from a locked weapons box, or taken from dead sicarios. The unique, semi-auto only M4A1 Tactical is given to the player after Carl Brookhart is defeated, while the Special Forces Pack unlocks the M4A1 Commando. Curiously, the M4A1 starts with a 20-round magazine, and can be modified not only with 30-round mags, but drum magazines, laser sights, optical sights, vertical foregrips and underbarrel grenade launchers as well. The aforementioned P416 also returns, surprisingly going by its real name rather than the "Goblin" moniker as in every other Ubisoft release for the previous five years, once again as one of the starting weapons; it's described as a high-end update to the M4, despite the Sorting Algorithm of Weapon Effectiveness making this the complete opposite, even with the unique "Micteca" unlocked for completing the Season 2 challenges. A similar weapon, the KAC PDW in 6x35mm, also appears in the game as a submachine gun, misidentified as the slightly larger SR-635. The M4 is also used as the default weapon for rebel and enemy animations in random encounters, who will switch back to their actual rifles when in alert mode.
• In addition to the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots example above, the Metal Gear games have several different variants appear in various games:
  • Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty has an M4 available to Raiden. The Marines in the Tanker Chapter and the Navy SEALs in the Plant Chapter, including Iroquois Pliskin, carry them. Pliskin continues to use his even after revealing himself to be Solid Snake.
  • Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops adds an XM177 as an alternative to the M16A1, carried by FOX Operatives. The Portable Ops Plus expansion adds a modern M4 and Old Snake comes with the custom variant from MGS4.
  • A Colt Model 653 can be developed in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and can be fitted with an underbarrel shotgun or grenade launcher. It's lighter than the M16A1, but has less stopping power and can't mount a Laser Sight.
• M4A1 and M4 SOPMOD II make the other half of the Anti Rain team in Girls' Frontline. Despite being very shy, M4 is the leader of the squad and one of the few Tactical Dolls with command capability. Her kit is fairly generic save for her ability to buff other ARs near her^note Normally, assault rifle T-Dolls buff submachine guns. There are only two other assault rifles that don't solely buff submachine guns: Ribeyrolles, who buffs assault rifles, and AUG, who buffs all weapon types. Interestingly, her illustration shows her wielding a tan M4 with a 20-round Magpul magazine instead of a 30-round STANAG mag, though she switches to a more conventional configuration with her MOD 3 upgrade. SOP II, on the other hand, is an adorable sadist with a penchant for ripping off limbs from other androids and grafting them into her own body, yet another reference (as twisted it may be) to her real-life weapon's modularity. In gameplay, she shares the same extra accessory slot gimmick as AR-15.
  • With her MOD 3 upgrade, ST AR-15 supplements her main rifle with a Spike's Tactical Piper Hitters SBR. She uses both guns while her Crime and Punishment skill is active.
• W from Arknights carries a Mk 18 Mod 0 in her character art, though it's a bit hard to notice considering she prefers using explosives of various kinds in gameplay. The presence of this rifle is also a Mythology Gag; W's initial design originated as the sixth AR Team member in Girls' Frontline who was cut before release.
• In the Command & Conquer: Tiberian Series, Nod soldiers rely on these - they're stated to use them in the original Tiberian Dawn and are outright shown carrying them in some cutscenes in Renegade. While both sides have upgraded to "M16 Mk II Pulse Rifles" for Tiberian Sun, Nod's live-action cutscene variant is otherwise still just an M4 with M203, compared to GDI's more fancy use of the M41A and M590.
• In Just Cause 2, the basic "Assault Rifle" is an M4A1 with aftermarket ironsights and an odd skeleton stock. It's by far the most common of the two-handed weapons, most frequently in use by elite soldiers and the most common type found in weapons crates.
• In Annihilation (2018), Dr. Ventress's all-female team is equipped with these.
• Rising Storm 2: Vietnam has the XM177E1 appear, as a longer-ranged SMG substitute.
• Mercenaries features the M4A1 carbine as a starter weapon. It's a fairly normal Jack of All Stats with nothing too fancy about it, but it's an effective gun that remains useful throughout the entire campaign.
  Jennifer Mui: M4A1 Carbine...barrel tends to overheat. Other than that, a fine weapon.
• Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot: An XM177E2 is visible in a van when Tutti is purchasing a gun for her son Joey.
• The AR-40 Xtnd in Saints Row and Saints Row 2 appears to be a CAR-15 (or a look-a-like) fitted with a birdcage flash-hider (or a look-like). It is fielded by the SWAT teams of the Stilwater Police, the FBI, and the Masako, and it is generally superior to the K6 Krukov the gangs use.
  • It was replaced by the AR-55 in Saints Row: The Third and Saints Row (2022), which takes the form of a custom AR-pattern rifle. It is depicted as a burst-fire weapon with an upgrade to a five-round burst in The Third, sacrificing rate-of-fire for accuracy and damage.

Norinco QBZ-95

Along with possessing the highest accuracy and mobility in its class, the Type 95 delivers pinpoint 3-round bursts with minimal spread on target. It performs best at longer distances, as its low damage output struggles in mid-range against heavy hitting weapons.

—Call of Duty Elite Description, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

After China saw the efficiency of NATO troops during the first Gulf War, they began to modernize the military from the Cold War-era "people's army" to a modern technological elite force. First, they held trials in 1987 and found the 5.8x42mm had the best ballistics surpassing the US 5.56mm and the Russian 5.45mm (according to the Chinese government, at least; no non-Chinese organization has been able to test this claim since China doesn't export the ammo). The Type 87, a modified Type 81 rifle which itself was a hybrid of the AK and the SKS, was used to test the cartridge. The first rifle in the QBZ family is the QBU-88 rifle, designed in 1988 with Israeli advisers. After two years of development led by lead designer Duo Yingxian, the QBZ-95 was ready in time for the 1997 UK's handover of Hong Kong to China.

In the same year, the QBZ-97 variant in 5.56x45mm NATO which accepts STANAG magazines was produced for the foreign market. The QBZ-97A variant, with a modified grip and 3-round burst mode has been particularly successful, seeing large sales overseas and being adopted by the Cambodian special forces, plus the Laos and Myanmar military. The QBZ-97B, a carbine variant, is also used by Rwandan UN Police.

Not all soldiers were satisfied with the ergonomics however, as they found the rear fire-selector switch to be slow and cumbersome, while the brass ejection of the bullpup configuration limited their abilities to fire the rifle left-handed. The newer QBZ 95-1 not only moved the fire selector to the pistol grip, but also modified the ejector to eject casings at a 45 degree angle, supposedly allowing for sustained left-handed fire. In addition, a bolt release was added behind the magazine to greatly decrease the time needed to reload an empty rifle. The sight line was also lowered and accessory rails were added to the base of the front sight.

In response to complaints about the 5.8mm's lethality (or rather the lack of), the 95-1 was upgraded to accept the heavy variant of the 5.8mm originally intended for the QBU-88 sniper rifle and QBB-95 light machine gun. This QBZ 95-1 is now the standard variant with the People's Liberation Army. However, the Type 87 gained a life of its own, being developed into the QBZ-03 rifle with a more conventional layout. As of 2017, the PLA is planning to replace the QBZ-95-1 with a conventional-layout rifle, being unhappy with the bullpup, though whether the replacement will be the QBZ-03 or some other design remains to be seen.

• Chinese soldiers in the first Splinter Cell use the QBZ-95 as their standard rifle, and are notable for being the first enemies that will empty their magazines in Sam's direction with one trigger pull instead of going for wimpy semi-automatic shooting. Splinter Cell was also the very first time this rifle appeared in any form of entertainment media, even China. Sadono's bodyguards in Jakarta in Pandora Tomorrow also use QBZ-95s.
• 2012.
• Söldner: Secret Wars.
• Multiple variants are common in the modern-era Battlefield games.
  • Battlefield 2 features the QBZ-95B carbine as the primary weapon for the Chinese Spec Ops kit, misidentified as the 5.56mm QBZ-97. Its more realistic mod, Project Reality, keeps it for the PLA's Vehicle Crewman class, while also upgrading the regular soldiers to the full-size QBZ-95, with options of a bayonet, scope or LG-1 grenade launcher. Both also feature the QBU-88 and QBB-95, respectively the primary sniper rifle and support weapon for the Chinese, the latter also being seen mounted in defensive positions and on fast attack vehicles.
  • The Battlefield: Bad Company spinoffs keep the QBU-88 for the Recon kit, while skipping out on other versions in favor of the earlier QJY-88 GPMG as a Medic weapon.
  • Battlefield 3 once again features the QBU-88 and QJY-88 in the default game for the Recon and Support kits. The "Back to Karkand" DLC brings back both the QBZ-95B and the QBB-95, the former as an Engineer carbine for completing the "It Goes Boom!" assignment (fifty kills with shoulder-fired rockets, destroying an enemy vehicle with the repair tool, and winning five Conquest rounds after completing the earlier "Fixing It" assignment), the latter as a Support machine gun for completing the "Let it Rain" assignment (20 kills with machine guns and 2 kills with a mortar).
  • Battlefield 4, as before, also features the QBU-88, this time as an all-kit DMR, and the older QJY-88 for Support, while also featuring multiple versions of the QBB-95 mocked up as the shorter assault rifles. The normal QBB-95 is one of the earliest Support unlocks, while one mocked up as a QBZ-95 is unlocked for the Assault class by completing the "To Valhalla" singleplayer assignment (choosing not to give the C4 to either Irish or Hannah and letting the Valkyrie sink in the finale of the campaign), and another one with a shortened barrel to stand in for the -95B carbine is an all-kit carbine unlocked by making a certain number of points with other carbines.
• Mercenaries 2: World in Flames calls it the "Bullpup Rifle".
• Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 features the QBZ-95 as well as the QBU-88 and QBB-95; only the QBB-95 returned for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.
• Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising and its sequel Red River, where the PLA are the antagonists.
• Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, which takes place in Shanghai has it.
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has the QBZ-97A with the 3 round burst, incorrectly referred to as the "Type 95".
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops II has futuristic versions of the QBZ 95-1 (as the "Type 25") and the QBB 95-1 (as the "QBB LSW"). Both are depicted as low-damage, high cyclic rate weapons within their classes.
• Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield has the QBZ-97B.
  • A QBB-95 mixed with some Canadian Type-97 upgrades appears in Rainbow Six Siege for the Operator Ying. It reloads unusually quickly for a LMG, making it more of an oversized assault rifle for Ying than the other light machine guns in the game.
• School Shock, being a Chinese-produced work, unsurprisingly has QBZ-95s appearing frequently whenever Chinese soldiers are present.
• The QBZ-95 is the model for the DLC "Bullpup Rifle" in Grand Theft Auto V, with a scope, flashlight, and other mods. It can easily carry you until the LMGs or the Carbine/Advanced Rifles are unlocked and can be almost the same as the Advanced Rifle if you can afford the expensive addons.
• The generically-named "Carbine" used by both sides in Project: Snowblind heavily resembles the QBZ-95.
• ARMA III: Apex adds the QBZ-95 under the name "CAR-95 5.8mm" as a new weapon for the Pacific CSAT forces, fitted with the slightly-lower rail of the civilian Type 97 FTU but otherwise unmodified, including continuing to use its original 5.8mm rounds instead of being rechambered for 6.5mm. As with most other standard assault rifles it's available in multiple variants, including one with a grenade launcher and a lengthened support-weapon variant with an integral bipod and the drum mag of the QBB-95.
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy features this gun for the first time in the franchise as the Type 95.
• Both Type 95 and Type 97 appear as 5-star ARs in Girls' Frontline, presented as sisters with contrasting personality. Oddly enough, Type 97 has a Canadian flat-top receiver instead of the original one. The latter is referenced in Girls' Frontline: Neural Cloud: Jiangyu (Type 97) traveled abroad to Canada as part of her acting work.
• The QBZ-95-1 is the standard-issue weapon of the newly implemented People's Liberation Army in Squad, it is issued to most of the faction's kits and can be mounted with either iron sights, the Holo Sight, or the YMA600 long range scope, with grenadiers also comes equipped with QLG-10 underbarrel grenade launcher. In addition, there's also QBZ-95B-1 carbine variant issued to vehicle crews and pilots, and QJB-95-1 light support variant issued to automatic riflemen.

OTs-14 Groza

The OTs-14-4 variant

Essentially a bullpup AK-74, this family of assault rifles was developed in Russia in the tumultuous years following the fall of the Soviet Union. The Grozas (Russian for "Storm") came in several variants, the main one being the OTs-14-4A, chambering the subsonic, armor-piercing 9x39mm that was also used by the VSS Vintorez and AS Val. Experimental models were made in 7.62x39mm, 5.45x39mm and even 5.56x45mm NATO. The first one could even reuse AKM magazines and had different ballistic performance than the subsonic 9x39mm and saw limited adoption, while the other two were quickly shelved for lack of interest and funding.

The Groza was formally adopted in 1994 as a weapon for Spetsnaz units and other specialist units like paratroopers or combat engineers. The weapon system is designed to be modular to suit various mission parameters. When fitted with a suppressor the weapon could be fired relatively silently due to the subsonic nature of its ammunition. The foregrip and trigger group could be switched out for a trigger group accompanied by a Grenade Launcher, with a switch deciding if the trigger fired the rifle or the grenade launcher. PSO telescopic sights can also be mounted on the carrying handle.

The weapon saw limited use in the Second Chechen War in 1999, with production ceasing soon after and the Groza fading into obscurity.

• Appears in all S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series games in its OTs-14-4A configuration as the "Tunder S14". It's usually carried by higher-level Duty stalkers. Like all 9x39mm rifles it's a mid-to-late game Infinity -1 Sword, having good all around stats, and its ammo is not too rare once you buddy up to the Duty faction and they start showering you with it, or when you start fighting Monolith Mooks in the late game. Its built-in grenade launchers, like all underbarrel grenade launchers in the game, is rather anemic and Awesome, but Impractical, since rifle grenades are quite rare, expensive and heavy.
  • The rare 5.45x39mm variant also shows up as a unique or very rare variant in every game, with its 5.45x39mm ammo being lighter than the 9x39mm.

SIG SG 550 series

This assault rifle is used by the Swiss Army and exported around the world. Forces in Brazil, India, and even Vatican City use variants of the STG-90, despite the fact that it comes with neither a corkscrew nor a nail clipper.

—Survival Guide, Far Cry 3

Rifles with the precision of a Swiss watch.^note From top to bottom: SG 550, SG 551 LB, SG 551, SG 552 Commando

The SIG SG 550 Assault Rifle (SG standing for Sturmgewehr, the German word for "assault rifle") was developed in 1990 by Swiss Arms AG^note Which has changed its entity name to SIG Sauer AG as of late 2019. The search for this rifle actually started around 1978, looking to replace the larger SG 510 battle rifle with a rifle that would use a smaller cartridge, initially experimenting with a 6.45mm round before settling for 5.6x45mm, the Swiss equivalent to 5.56mm NATO.

The sights attached to the rifle bear a resemblance to those of the Heckler & Koch G3 and its progeny such as the MP5.^note Interestingly, the SG 550 Sniper's folding stock was eventually adapted to be used with later versions of the PSG 1, and the G36 adopted similar studded magazines like the SIG has, coming full circle. The rifle had a folding, skeletonized polymer stock, and could be fitted with a bayonet and the SIG GL5040 Grenade Launcher under the full barrel. The full length SG 550 also has a foldable bipod attached onto the rifle. The magazines for the SG 550 have studs on each side that can connect two magazines together, allowing easy jungle-style reloading. In 1998, the SG 552 Commando Carbine (as shown in the picture) was introduced for a more compact rifle intended to fulfill the PDW role, which like the G36C quickly became the most well-known variant of the weapon; though internally it was drastically different from its predecessors with the gas piston on the bolt (like an AK-47) and a recoil spring behind the bolt (like a MP5). Unfortunately, these changes had lead to unusual-for-SIG reliability issues with the carbine;^note The rearranged recoil mechanism made the bolt cycle too fast inside the short receiver, significantly stressing the internals and leading to premature wear the improved SG 553, introduced in 2008, is identical to the 552 in nearly all ways except for having the recoil spring wrapped around a gas piston that is separate from the bolt, in the same manner as the 550 and 551.

There is also the SG 556, an American-made semi-auto only version of the rifle designed primarily for the civilian market, which includes a rail atop the receiver and takes STANAG-compliant magazines; the 556 comes in both a "HOLO" version with a new handguard and an AR-15 buffer tube with sliding stock, and a "Classic" one with a folding stock and handguard designed to resemble those of the earlier weapons in the series. As of 2012 there is also the SIG 556R, a 556 Classic rechambered for 7.62x39mm (a similar conversion exists for the SG 553), and the more modular 556xi in both calibers following in 2014. All versions of the SIG 556 except the Classic have been discontinued as of May 2017, with the weapons no longer being listed on the products section of SIG's website.

The rifles in this series are often boasted to have accuracy that matches other nation's sniper rifles^note In keeping with Swiss military standards, SIG requires that new units be able to shoot sub-MOA groups out to 400 meters and still be capable of repeatable accuracy beyond that range, with standard factory ammunition., so much that there was an actual sniper rifle variant of the SG 550, which is no longer in production^note Essentially a semi-auto 550 with a heavier barrel and an adjustable folding stock, the 550 Sniper was marketed for law enforcement and competition, but limited exports and the fact that the gun, in stock form, was deemed too accurate for competition use killed off sales, and the 556 is also available in a DMR variation with a longer barrel and bipod. The rifle is standard issue for civilians who undergo basic military training for the militia in the case that Switzerland needs to fight, and because the rifle is so good, many Swiss citizens choose, and are even encouraged, to keep their rifles too after their service, provided the full-auto is removed.

• Cool Accessory: The magazines, as mentioned, are designed to facilitate quick reloading by attaching to each other; their design means one can attach as many magazines as they want to either side. Actual Swiss Army practice is to clip three together at a time.
  • Note also that the series is issued with magazines with both 20- and 30-round capacities (5- and 10-round ones also exist for civilian use). Nine times out of ten, a video game featuring a rifle from the series will model it with the 20-round magazine, but give it a 30-round capacity.
• Sig from Upotte!! is the personification of an SG 550. Both the boasted accuracy and the difference in ammo from other NATO assault rifles are noted, the former by pitting her against G3 in a sniper duel and the latter by having her friends get caught trying to pass off her target-practice results as their own.
• Robert De Niro's character from Ronin (1998) uses an SG 551 during an assault on some convoy guards.
• The SG 552 Commando with an ACOG appears in Counter-Strike as the Krieg 552, used exclusively by Terrorists as their equivalent to the AUG. In Global Offensive it's been replaced with a full-auto-converted SG 556, misidentified as the SG 553.
  • The Sniper variant of the SG 550 also appears in the original game and Source as the Krieg 550, this time exclusive to Counter-Terrorists; it too is replaced for Global Offensive, this time with a sniper conversion of the SCAR-H.
• Another SG 552 (the same model from CS: Source) appears in the German release of Left 4 Dead 2. It has the highest fire rate of all the rifles, and a usable 2x scope. It's also a somewhat popular target of re-animation and/or model-replacement, primarily due to the fact that the default animation ends a full second before the ammo count is updated.
• Elsa from Gunslinger Girl uses the SG 551 as her weapon of choice. She sometimes keeps it in a violin case.
• The SG 551 is a common weapon James Bond can pick up in NightFire. Known as the SG5 Commando, and can be found with a laser sight along with a suppressor and white finish, or with a scope and normal finish (former setup allows for Semi-Auto/Burst fire with silenced shots while the latter allows Full-Auto/Burst, and zooms in for more accurate shots while aiming.)
  • The next Bond game, Everything or Nothing, features the SG 552. It's presented as a slower-firing and harder to find, but stronger and higher-capacity, alternative to the obligatory AK.
  • GoldenEye (Wii) features the 550 Sniper as the "Toros AV-400", a weapon that only shows up in the final level.
• The SG 553 is available in both Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4, both times under its German designation of "STG-90". While an average weapon in the former (being the first assault rifle given to you, only being an upgrade to the AK enemies carry by a higher rate of fire and the option to attach a red dot sight), it's been noticeably buffed in the latter, in particular having the highest accuracy of any assault or battle rifle in the game (tied with the Signature version of the P416, the Infinity +1 Sword of its category).
• The SG 556 appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops II as the SWAT 556, converted to burst-fire as one of that game's futuristic equivalents to the M16 from earlier games.
• The 550 appears in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series as the "SGI-5k". It's presented as one of the most durable NATO weapons in the game, though at the cost of heavy weight and only being compatible with the grenade launcher without special variants in the first game or costly upgrades in the later two. In Call of Pripyat, a special variant belonging to Strelok appears as a lootable gun in the second map after recovering and unblocking a memory module from a crashed UAV in the northwestern area. The gun randomly appears in one of the three stash locations in the map after unblocking the module; this variant can accept all of the attachments without upgrades like the TRs 301.
• Leon S. Kennedy carries a 552 Commando with an EOTech sight as his primary weapon in Resident Evil: Retribution.
  • Resident Evil 5 features full-auto versions of the SG 556 as standard-issue for BSAA operatives. Your characters can pick it up in Chapter 5-2.
• In the first Kane & Lynch game, Kane uses the SG 552 as his signature weapon for every level between the initial bank robbery (where he uses a P90) and the finale (where he switches to an AK-74).
• An SG 552-2 appears in PAYDAY 2 with the Armored Transport DLC, as the Commando 553. The ingame name, however, does suggest a closer relationship to the SG 553, and attaching the Railed Foregrip mod turns it into one.
• The standard GUN rifle in Shadow the Hedgehog is modeled after the SG 551.
• An SG 550 Sniper is a weapon Gabe Logan frequently uses in the Syphon Filter series. It's modified with a suppressor and a digital scope that can identify bodyshots and headshots. Although it only holds 10 rounds rather than 20.
• Mercenaries are armed with the 552 in Dead Rising 2. Also Chuck can use the "Blitzkrieg", a wheelchair that has three of these slapped on to it for more firepower.
• One of the many assault rifles you can acquire in the Firearms: Source mod of Half-Life 2. Although it's called the "SG550", it's really an SG 551, which has good accuracy despite lacking a long-range sight. The 552 Commando was added in v2.0 along with the other carbines.
• The SG 552 appears in the Rainbow Six: Vegas series as the default assault rifle and one of the three assault rifles unlocked by default, the other two being the G36C and FAMAS. It is the standard rifle of Rainbow, the weapon of choice for your teammates Logan and Gabe in the prologue of Vegas 2, and is also used by some terrorists. It is the only assault rifle in the game with a 3-round burst fire option. The SG 552 returns in Siege alongside the SG 556xi, with the 552 being available to GSG-9 Attacker recruits, IQ and terrorists, and the 556 to FBI recruits and Thermite.
• The SG 552 is usable in Hitman: Blood Money, where it only appears in and can be collected in "The Murder of the Crows", in Mark Purayah's office leaned against his desk. However, Mark himself never seems to use the rifle, even if provoked into attacking.
• A version of the 556 DMR, chambered up for 7.62mm NATO, is added to ARMA III with the Marksmen DLC, as the "MK1 EMR 7.62mm". Befitting the 550 series' reputation for accuracy, it is one of the most accurate and furthest-reaching of the rifles added with the DLC, though its comparatively-small cartridge means it doesn't hit as hard at extreme ranges.
• The console versions of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 have both the regular SG 556 and 556 DMR as usable weapons in multiplayer, the latter being classified as a sniper rifle. The regular 556 has an Aimpoint CompM2 attached, and can also be equipped with an M320 grenade launcher.
• Naturally shows up in Recruit Sophie, a one-shot manga about a female enlistee in the Swiss Army during the target practice segment.
• In the 2010 version of Nikita, the 552 is Division's weapons, usually suppressed and fitted with a C-More dot sight.
• Added to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) with Season 2, as the Grau 5.56. By default it's the 552, though the longer barrels of the 550 and 551 are available, as is the 550 Sniper's unique pistol grip. Surprisingly, it's actually fitted with 30-round magazines.
• In The Predator, several of Project Stargazer's operatives make use of the SIG SG 552 fitted with EOTech 551 sight. When the Fugitive Predator wakes up and escapes from the Project's lab. He steals the rifle from one of the operatives and makes use of it himself. Not only firing it one-handed (with ease due to his super strength) but also using the "Bandit Shooting" technique to take care a bunch of operatives in a sweep, before discarding it.
• White House Down: Vadim wields a short-barreled 552 with a flash-hider and standard diopter sights. John Cale takes it from him and uses it until the helicopter sequence.
• The 550 could be acquired in Parasite Eve if you defeat an Optional Mini-Boss during Day 3.

SIG MCX

An assault rifle designed by the American branch of SIG Sauer and first produced in 2015, the MCX uses a short-stroke gas piston system based on that of the MPX to reduce recoil and improve reliability, also allowing for a 5.56mm rifle without the standard AR-15-derived buffer tube. The MCX is chambered in .300 AAC Blackout, 7.62x39mm and 5.56x45mm NATO calibers, featuring a system that allows conversion between these calibers. It features a nitride coated barrel that is tapered at the crown to allow the installation of muzzle devices and direct-thread sound suppressors without the use of washers that degrade performance and allows the devices to self-center on installation, and the barrel can be changed in a matter of seconds to another length or a different caliber. The upper receiver of the weapon is compatible with standard AR-15 and M16 lower receivers with the help of an adapter. The improved Virtus variant entered production in 2017, as well as the Rattler, which is a short barreled variant intended as a personal defense weapon. It was later followed with the further improved Spear, starting production in 2019 and entering the market in 2022, which comes in two variations, the regular Spear for a proprietary .277 Fury that can also be converted to 7.62mm NATO or 6.5mm Creedmoor with a barrel change, and a Spear LT in the same cartridges as previous versions.

The weapon has come into the spotlight as the Spear variant has been adopted by the US Army in their Next Generation Squad Weapon Program under the XM7^note Originally the XM5, it was renamed in January 2023 to avoid a trademark conflict with Colt's M5 carbine. designation to finally replace the M4 in service, and it also sees use with USSOCOM in its Rattler and LVAW (Low Visibility Assault Weapon) variants. In addition to the US Military, it also sees use with the French 27th Mountain Infantry Brigade, Dutch, Polish and Ukrainian special forces, and Canadian, British, Belgian, German, Portuguese and Estonian police. It has also garnered infamy for its use in the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, the second-deadliest mass shooting in US history.

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• The MCX Virtus appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) as the M13, where it is used by Kyle Garrick in the "Clean House" and "The Wolf's Den" missions. It can be rechambered from 5.56x45mm to .300 Blackout, fitted with an integral suppressor, and the barrel length altered. The model also incorrectly lacks the pin for the auto sear above the selector switch.
  • It later appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II as the M13B. It is still seen in the hands of Kyle Garrick, as well as Rodolfo Parra. While not initially in the base game, it was later added to multiplayer as part of Season 1 content, unlocked by extracting from DMZ mode with one. A shorter-barreled .300 Blackout variant of the aformentioned Virtus was later added in Season 5 as the M13C.
  • The MCX SPEAR appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III as the "BAS-B". It's classified as a battle rifle and the gun is chambered in the appropriate .277 Fury.
• The MCX Virtus shows up in Resident Evil Village as the WCX, used by HW commandos, and can be purchased in-game by spending 30,000 challenge points in the Extra Content menu. It can be fitted with a foregrip and red dot sight/magnifier combination, and by default holds 20 rounds in a 30-round magazine.
• The 2019 prototype of the Spear appears in Battlefield 2042 as the M5A3. Appropriately, it's the standard rifle of the US Military in-game, and is used by AI US troops by default. It can be used with either 35-round 9mm mags, 20-round 6.8mm mags, or 30-round 5.56mm mags.
• Added to Escape from Tarkov with the 0.12.9 patch in .300 Blackout. Both it and its ammo are expensive, but it has an extremely high damage potential, and it can only use FMJ and AP rounds. Scav Raiders also sometimes use suppressed MCXs.
• The MCX Virtus was added to State of Decay 2 post-release.
• Added to Alliance of Valiant Arms in 2017, where it is always fitted with a suppressor.
• Shows up in the hands of TRF operatives in Transformers: The Last Knight.
• Used by Resnik in The Equalizer 2.
• Used by Douglas in Mile 22 with an EOTech sight attached and Magpul PMAGs.
• Used by Keane in The Old Guard during the final battle.
• Guards in the finale of Kate use MCXs with green laser sights attached.
• The MCX first appears in Hawaii Five-0 in Season 8 in the hands of an armed man in "Na La 'Ilio", and the Virtus and Rattler variants later appear in Season 10, used by Lou Grover and Danny Williams.
• The MCX Rattler is used by Orville Wright and Tani Rey in Magnum, P.I. (2018).
• The MCX Virtus and Rattler appear in SEAL Team, most notably used by Sonny Quinn and Clay Spenser.
• The MCX Virtus is used by ANVIL contractors in The Punisher (2017).
• The MCX is appropriately used by SCO19 and AFO officers in Bodyguard (UK 2018).
• Appears in the hands of SCO19 and AFO officers in The Capture.
• Kariem takes an MCX from an unused British Armed Response Vehicle in War of the Worlds (2019) after sneaking into Hammersmith.
• The Dogs use MCXs as their standard rifle in Slow Horses.
• It appears in Girls' Frontline as a 5-star AR. As a possible nod to its use by the Specialist Firearms Command, her design was influenced by British law enforcement and her skill incorporates a stun gun.
• The Spear variant was added to Ironsight as the "M5i". Despite its use of 6.8x51mm ammo, it's mechanically identical to the basic M4 with a slightly slower rate of fire and slightly higher damage per bullet, complete with it using an extended magazine by default to give it the same 30-round capacity as most other assault rifles.

Steyr AUG

"Now this here is a Steyr AUG, Steyr AUG's a bad motherfucker, it's expensive too, made in Austria, my customers don't know shit about it so there ain't no demand for it, but let me tell you though, you put this bad boy in a flick, every motherfucker out there'll want one."

—Ordell Robbie, Jackie Brown

The Steyr AUG is an Austrian-made bullpup assault rifle, in service since 1978. It is one of the most popular weapons with a bullpup design, with the magazine and action behind the trigger rather than in front, allowing for a shorter weapon without shortening the barrel.

The AUG ^note Armee Universal Geweher or Army Universal Rifle. Many English speaking users backronym it to Army Universal Gunis incredibly versatile and simple to take apart; it can easily be swapped from an assault rifle to an LMG or a sniper simply by switching out the barrel for a heavier or longer/shorter one, which takes all of a few seconds. Disassembly is also accomplished by pushing a button in, and sliding the receiver out. While like most bullpups, the AUG is not ambidextrous (since the action is moved back into the stock, spent casings will eject directly at the face of a "wrong-handed" shooter), each rifle is shipped with a spare left-handed bolt that allows the bolt, charging handle and ejection port to be reversed when the rifle is issued to a lefty. Another advantageous feature is the use of transparent magazines, allowing the user to visually see how many rounds they have left without unloading the weapon. The AUG also mounts a distinctive top-mounted 1.5x scope; later variants introduced a universal scope mount and accessory rails for users to mount their sight of choice.

Major variants of the weapon include the HBAR/LMG, which has a longer, heavier barrel designed for use as a light machine gun, the Para, a submachine gun variant chambered in 9x19mm (sharing magazines with the MPi 81 and TMP submachine guns), and the A3 variant, which features accessory rails.

Along with Austria, it is also used by the Australian armed forces and the Irish Defence Forces, both of whom have their own variants.^note The variant adopted by the Irish Defence Forces added a bayonet lug and an automatic lockout tab under the trigger, which prevents the trigger from being pulled back to its second stage. An upgraded variant, known as the Mod 14, replaced the standard housing group and 1.5x optical sight with a housing group fitted with Picatinny rails. The Australian license-produced version, the F88 Austeyr, is based on the Irish variant, with a 1:7 rifling rate to optimize it for NATO-standard ammunition.

The weapon's distinctive and rather villainous appearance (the very narrow barrel and front section makes it almost appear the AUG is skulking behind the shooter's arm, up to no good) made it a favorite for arming the Big Bad or The Dragon until bullpups became more common around the turn of the millennium.

• Cool Action: The "HK Slap" can be done on the AUG as well, due to the cocking handle being almost identical in location and design to the G3's cocking handle, although doing it as a full Hollywood-style karate chop is difficult with the A1's scope or having optics attached to the later variants (due to it being much closer to the primary grip, lining up directly above the trigger when locked back). Also, inserting the barrel and slapping the secondary firing grip with their hand to lock it into position looks particularly badass, giving the impression that the user is about to get serious.
• The Dragon in Die Hard had one of these, forever cementing it in the public consciousness as a bad-guy gun.
• The Big Bad in Commando.
• Shows up every now and then in The Punisher MAX. Usually in the hands of some bad guys.
• The Hidden. The criminal puppetmaster alien wields one of these while possessing the body of a nightclub stripper, as well as a bullpup Mossberg shotgun.
• The first scoped weapon available to the player in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines.
• Shows up the hands of mooks alongside the FAMAS in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2; in multiplayer it's the HBAR variant, utilized as an LMG with the larger 42-round magazines, and utilizes the Swarovski scope in place of the ACOG.
  • Also appears as an early prototype wielded by CIA agents in Black Ops. In multiplayer, alongside the aforementioned FAMAS and the AKS-74U, it's one of the big three game breakers that everyone uses for its high rate of fire and low recoil. Like the above, it once again gets the standard Swarovski scope when attached with an ACOG. As with most of the weapons in the game, it's anachronistic to the 1960s time period, but is a particular standout for having two variants in the game - with the scope, as it always has in singleplayer, it's the A1 variant that was introduced in 1977. Without it, it instead gets a raised scope rail, making it the even more anachronistic A2 variant from 1997.
  • The AUG made its return in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019). This time it's the A3 Para XS submachine gun variant. In Multiplayer mode, it can be modified to its assault rifle and HBAR configurations by using Gunsmith customization options. In Single Player storyline, Hadir, Farah's brother and lieutenant is often seen armed with one. The fact that it's also wielded by the insurgents' Lieutenant who steals the chemical weapons when things go tits-up in the first mission serves as huge foreshadowing.
  • The AUG later returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, with three different variants: The assault rifle AUG A3 as the STB 556, the submachine gun AUG A3 9mm as the MX9 and the light machine gun AUG HBAR-T as the HCR 56.
• One of the Colombian gangsters is seen with one at the beginning of Predator 2.
• Shows up in Jackie Brown as part of Ordell's TV show. He mentions that it's a good weapon, but since most of his sales are driven by what appears in popular films and shows, there's no demand for them.
• A silenced one is used to assassinate the Chinese ambassador during the dinner celebration for the US/China trade agreement in The Art of War.
• Available in Counter-Strike as a Counter-Terrorist-exclusive weaponry and a counterpart to the Terrorist-exclusive Sig SG 552, unlike most other examples. Global Offensive updated it to the AUG A3 with an ACOG; the model is interestingly fitted with the extended 42-round magazine, but it still only has a 30-round capacity.
• Rainbow Six of course, in both assault rifle and Para versions, no doubt to the lone Aussie's delight. All three primary variants have shown up in the series: Rogue Spear and Raven Shield utilize the A1, fitted with the integral scope that can, in the latter game, be paired with a suppressor or extended magazine. Lockdown updated to the A2. Vegas switched to the A3, one of the weapons available through making "Marksman" kills and as such extremely accurate; the A2 version is also availabe in Para form, as a late-game weapon where it largely serves as a faster-firing but slightly weaker version of the earlier UMP. Siege switches it around, with the GSG-9 operator IQ and their Recruit using the full-size AUG A2 and the later GIGR operator Kaid using the Para version of the A3.
• It shows up as a burst rifle in Dirty Bomb as the "Stark AR" available for Kira, Arty, Stoker, and Thunder.
• One of the Irish mercenaries in Sin City shoots Dwight with one.
• Available in 7.62 High Caliber as a very accurate, powerful, and relatively compact late-game rifle. It's mostly seen early in the game in its Para form, converted to a 9mm submachine gun, in use by the Algeiran police.
• The standard rifle aboard Red Dwarf.
• Supposedly, the Mooks in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake carry them. Due to the graphical limitations, it's impossible to tell. The backstory states that it replaced the SA80 the year before. The MSF can research and make use of them in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker three years early after completing a certain mission with an S-rank.
• The AUG Para shows up as a criminal-only weapon in SWAT 3, where it is possibly the most dangerous weapon they can be given.
• The A2 appears in PAYDAY 2 as the UAR, or Universal Army Rifle - a direct translation of the AUG's full name, the Armee Universal Gewehr. It can be modded to closely resemble the A3 or the Thales F90 (only missing the bolt-release button near the magazine).
• Doc carries one with a carbine barrel and a suppressor in The Expendables 3.
• The 9mm Para variant appears in Hitman: Contracts, used by SWAT officers raiding the lab in "Asylum Aftermath" and by Fabian Fuchs' bodyguards in "The Bjarkhov Bomb", and found in the basement of the biker bar in "Rendezvous in Rotterdam".
• The Austeyr F88 variant is used by the protagonists of Sea Patrol, which is Truth in Television for the Australian Navy.
• An A3 variant appears in Wasteland 2 as a late game rifle, and is one of the better ones chambered in 5.56mm.
• Aug from Upotte!! is the personification of the Steyr AUG A1. She wears glasses due to the telescopic sight integrally mounted on the rifle. She's also shown wearing a short-haired wig or going with her real longer hair depending on the barrel length of her weapon, with her personality likewise changing to match - more quiet and reserved with the wig/short barrel, and more aggressive with her real hair/long barrel.
• Customized Thales F90s are used by the crew of the Covenant in Alien: Covenant.
• The Governor from The Walking Dead (2010) uses one in all three attacks on the prison.
• In the 1995 film Rage, the A1 is used by a cop as a sniper rifle.
• Turns up in Phantom Doctrine as a late game assault rifle.
• The A1 version with 20" barrel shows up as a 5-star AR in Girls' Frontline. Her skill imitates the weapon's quick-change barrel function into an LMG, as she cranks her fire rate to the maximum and sweeps over the enemy ranks. In the story proper, she serves as the lieutenant of IWS-2000's squad.
• In The Usual Suspects, McManus uses a HBAR-T marksman variant to snipe several thugs in the opening stages of the climactic shootout.
• In Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, during the Test Play battle in Volume 6, the enemy NPC Cain uses a Steyr F90, which is the 2012 update of the AUG designed by Thales Australia at the Lithgow Small Arms Factory for the Australian Defence Force.
• The AUG HBAR-T is acquired in Parasite Eve if you give Wayne 300 Junk and ask him for a rifle. It was wrongfully named MAG due to a last minute post-production change from the machine gun to this rifle.
• The titular Nikita uses a suppressed A1 in an assassination mission in Venice.
• Bang-hee uses an A1 during the climactic scene of Shiri.
• Appears in Agent Under Fire as the Meyer-Westlicher UGW with an incorrect 40 round magazine. Appears in two late missions, and an excellent weapon to use due to its accurate nature when scoped in, but ammo for it is rare. Due to the game's tendency to skew accuracy in multiplayer, however, the AUG's bullets go all over the place and it is often passed over for other guns as a result.

StG 44

The MP44 is an assault rifle that fires a unique 'short' rifle round. Up close, it can be used as a submachine gun, while at longer ranges it can operate as a rifle.

—Description, Call of Duty

Top: Mkb 42 (H); Below: MP 43/ MP 44/ STG 44

The Sturmgewehr 44, also known as the MP43 and MP44, was a select-fire assault rifle developed by Haenel and Walther during World War II. The first assault rifle to be produced in significant numbers and issued in combat^note for a given definition of assault rifle, as the concept had been around since World War I but was not named until shortly before the Sturmgewehr entered full-scale production, and not really defined until after the war. It was the first one designed around a purpose-built intermediate cartridge, however., the weapon was also first to be called such; "sturmgewehr" (a title given to the weapon by an impressed Adolf Hitler when he had the chance to test-fire the MP44) literally means "assault rifle".

The idea for a dedicated machine carbine that combined the roles of the self-loading short rifle and the submachine gun had floated around during the interwar period. Haenel and Walther both started projects for such after other ideas, such as Heinrich Vollmer's automatic rifle series and the Luftwaffe's FG 42, had been rejected for service in the German Army owing to design complexity, performance shortcomings, and manufacturing costs. Both firms decided to accept contracts for gas-operated automatic rifles chambered for a new intermediate cartridge that would theoretically allow the new weapon to bridge the gap between rifles and submachine guns while being more flexible than the both combined, the 7.92x33mm Kurz ("Short"). Haenel and Walther both submitted prototype series of new rifles, the MKb 42 (H) and MKb 42 (W) respectively, to be tested on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Red Army. Haenel's rifle acted more like a submachine gun as it fired from an open bolt and had a linear firing striker, with the gas cylinder positioned just above the barrel. Walther, drawing up on its experience from designing the Gewehr 41 (W), made its prototype act more like a proper rifle, with a firing hammer, closed-bolt operation, and a selector switch, along with Walther's troublesome annular gas piston system. Both weapons fed from a 30-round box magazine and handled more like submachine guns than like rifles, with their shoulder-stocks designed to mitigate muzzle-rise. Troop feedback led the German Army ordering the best features of both weapons (Haenel's gas system and Walther's closed-bolt-hammer-fired receiver) being thrown into a "new" design, the MP 43. Troops on the front realized that the MP 43 could not replace the Kar98K bolt-action rifle, and thus Haenel discarded the bayonet lug, optical sight mount, and the grenade launching muzzle-thread, making the MP 43 a new category of its own. Political infighting led to Hitler attempting to suspend the machine carbine program because of production development complicating an already bad logistical mess, only for logistics troops and their commanding officers to start smuggling more MP 43s to the front under a machine pistol disguise. Hitler begrudgingly permitted the machine carbine program to continue for evaluation purposes after finding out how he'd been tricked and how well the weapons performed, personally ordering some more improvements, resulting in the MP 44. Once the Fuhrer personally test-fired the MP 44 (as mentioned above), he gave it the designation "Sturmgewehr."

In service, the Sturmgewehr was appreciated by German troops who had the opportunity to use it, as it had much longer range than a submachine gun, but at the same time, was much more useful in close-range combat than a bolt-action rifle, and easy to control on full-auto thanks to its inline design. In particular, the weapon provided a much-needed counter to Soviet troops, who were frequently armed with automatic weapons like the PPSh-41. Problems included its heavy weight relative to its size (11.3 pounds fully loaded), weak magazine springs (troops usually only loaded 25 rounds to improve reliability), and the long 30-round magazine made the weapon difficult to fire while prone. Troops were trained to fire it in semi-auto mode only except in emergencies, in order to improve reliability and prolong its service life.

The Allies were somewhat averse to the weapon. British tests showed that it was possible to render it totally unable to fire simply by propping it up and then pushing it over, and that pinching the sides of the upper receiver with the finger and thumb of one hand (or even sitting on the receiver) could bend it enough to immobilize the bolt, though they held that the material problems were products of sacrifices made to mass-produce the MP44. The Americans were less than unimpressed with the StG 44, and derided it as mediocre, bulky, prone to jamming, too fragile to be used as a melee weapon (using it to butt-stroke a person into submission could possibly break the rifle's receiver), and "ultimately of little value and in many ways inferior to the M1 Carbine". They were also unimpressed with the intermediate round it fired, instead praising the FG42 (since, apparently having not received as much post-war testing to discover its similar flaws, it fit their preconceived notion of the "perfect" military rifle) and held that future American rifles should not be chambered in anything weaker than the .30-06 used by the M1 Garand - a decision they would later reverse only after adopting a full-auto weapon using full-size rifle rounds a decade later and seeing the problems this caused firsthand.

A common misconception is that it was the basis for the AK-pattern rifles; while the Sturmgewehr certainly did impress the People's Commissariat of Arms of the USSR enough that they set about to create a similar intermediate weapon, which eventually lead to the AK's existence after the war, the mechanism of the AK is not related to the StG's (instead derived from the Garand), and the similarities of form are purely due to similarities of function — if anything, the StG shares more in common mechanically with the G3 rifle series, including a near-identical field-stripping procedure, thanks in part to that weapon being derived from a planned upgrade for the StG that never entered production before war's end.

Though it arrived too late and in too little amounts to significantly impact the outcome of the war, the Sturmgewehr was highly influential in the firearms development world; its principle of reducing muzzle impulse to get useful automatic fire within actual ranges of combat was gradually taken up by other nations as they found automatic battle rifles impractical due to either weight or heavy recoil, and outside very specific circumstances almost every military in the world since war's end has made assault rifles their primary long arm.

• Cool Accessory: One unusual accessory for the weapon is the Krummlauf, a bent barrel attachment with a periscopic sight. It was meant to be used for firing around corners or out vehicle firing ports for point defense. Unfortunately, the Krummlauf had a short lifespan, as the bend put stress on both the barrel and the bullet, and it had a tendency to cause the bullets to shatter.

Anime & Manga

• Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade. The Special Unit are seen using these on a firing range, as it takes place in an Alternate History where Japan was occupied by Germany. A training exercise at one point also sees them use a predecessor, the Haenel MKb42(H), loaded with rubber bullets.
• Agent Aika. This is the weapon of choice of the Delmos despite the show being set 20 Minutes into the Future and the weapon's obsoletion by newer assault rifles.
• Strike Witches, being set in an alternate World War II where Germany is one of the leading nations against the alien threat, makes some use of this weapon. Waltrud of the 502nd "Brave Witches" in particular uses one, occasionally fitted with an underbarrel Leuchtpistole 34, and the fourth episode of the anime centered on them also briefly shows a rack full of them at the firing range.

Films — Live-Action

• At least two appearances in The Professionals: A pair of Bulgarian intelligence mooks are seen carrying these in a spy exchange, and a Brainwashed and Crazy Manchurian Agent uses one for an assassination plot that Doyle and Bodie must foil. Presumably real AK-type firearms were unobtainable on a TV serial's budget in The '70s.
• Telly Savalas uses one during the uprising in the WWII action movie Escape to Athena (1979).
• Appears in perhaps larger quantity than any other movie in Downfall. Truth in Television, the Nazis at first issued the weapon in a rather tentative manner, but as they started to run out of men to arm, they handed out the guns to everyone that looked capable of lifting it and/or didn't evacuate to the west fast enough.
  • Also because it was a popular weapon among German troops, who soon asked for more to be supplied after the initial trials had been introduced. This caused Hitler's opinion about the weapon to take a 180-degree turn and so for the weapon to be mass-produced toward the end of the war.
• In a manner similar to how a lot of Western movies would dress up Western weapons to look like Soviet weapons, the Soviets tended to do the same in reverse for their movies, or at least with whatever stock guns they had available. In a few Soviet-era films from Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe, StGs were dressed up to look like M16 rifles.
• Rebel Blastech rifles in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back are dressed up StGs. Interestingly given the above, the rifles they use in the following Return of the Jedi are M16s dressed up to look like the StG-based weapons from Empire.
• Sgt. "Wardaddy" wields a commandeered STG-44 as his primary weapon in Fury.
• Several are taken from German prisoners in Battle of the Bulge, which is a rare note of historical accuracy for that particular movie.

Literature

• The Master Sniper by Stephen Hunter. The title character, a German sharpshooter in the last days of World War II, spends some time developing a specialized version for the assassination he's been tasked with.

Video Games

• In Hidden & Dangerous, one mission set in occupied Norway in the winter of 1943, there are guards equipped with the StG 44, which only entered mass production in July 1944.
• Medal of Honor: Underground, Allied Assault, European Assault, Frontline, Vanguard, and Airborne all feature it as an endgame gun, and easily one of the best available in terms of ammo reserve, fire rate, accuracy and damage, though it noticeably hinders movement speed.
  • In Airborne, it comes with a few upgrades, including the ZF4 scope.
• The first Call of Duty features enemies equipped with this weapon in a level set in Stalingrad in November 1942, a case of Anachronism Stew and Improperly Placed Firearms. While an early prototype version, the MKb42(H)◊, did exist at that time (in extremely small numbers, even relative to the production model's rarity) and a few might have been present at Stalingrad, that version had distinctive features (including a bayonet lug) that are absent in the StG44 depicted in the game. The American and British levels as well as the sequel have soldiers in Normandy wielding it in June 1944. In all cases, the MP44 is a Master of All and a valuable asset when found.
• Call of Duty 4 features the StG44 as the top-tier assault rifle the player can unlock through online play. It's something of a booby prize. The weapon's autofire is difficult to control and inaccurate at long range, and no attachments can be added to improve it; most people who use it for any significant length of time are either CoD2 veterans who are used to those shortcomings, showing off, or working to unlock the golden AK-47 to show off harder.
• The main weapon for the German assault soldiers in Battlefield 1942.
• Also the main gun for the Support class of Day of Defeat and Day of Defeat: Source.
• Available from Bobby Ray's Guns and Things, though it's not worth it in the slightest (rare ammo, bad range and high complexity).
• Appears in Commandos 3: Destination Berlin, even during the "Stalingrad" campaign (set before the invention of this weapon). In gameplay terms, it falls in between the pistol and rifle in terms of lethality, requiring two shots to kill an enemy compared to one shot for the rifle and three for the pistol.
• Similar to the Call of Duty example above, the earlier prototype, the MKb 42(H) (able to be told from the later StG by the longer gas piston with the front end attached to the front sight) is used by the Germans in Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad, by the Assault/Elite Assault classes. Unlockable by the Russians for double your fun.
  • Possibly in reference to this game^note Killing Floor was made commercial by the developers behind Red Orchestra, Killing Floor added the MKb 42 to its list of weapons for its 2012 Halloween event. Dr. Hans Volter in Killing Floor 2 uses a pair of them with the stocks removed and bayonets attached, referred to as his "Twin Fangs". The Halloween 2018 event eventually let the player use them as an alternate tier three Commando weapon.
• Appears in Men of War, used by German squad leaders, Panzergrenadiers, Fallschirmjägers and other elite units. It uses 'SMG Ammo' (due to the game's Universal Ammo restrictions) and is one of the highest damage-per-round guns of its class.
• A lone German Stormtrooper of a Stormtrooper squad and the Knight's Cross Holders uses the Sturmgewehr in Company of Heroes. A Stormtrooper Squad can be upgraded to have more StG44s. The Assault Grenadiers of the Panzer Elite use these too.
  • The sequel has lots more StGs in the hands of Ostheer Panzergrenadiers and Oberkommando Sturmpioneers, both mainline units that you can fill your entire army with. Other units can also take them as weapon upgrades, or even rarer (only 310 were delivered throughout the war), potentially including ones with infrared scopes on them. And a humorous voiceline from the Ostheer thinks the other units should all have them too.
• Somewhat common in later Wolfenstein games:
  • The 2009 game makes use of the slightly-earlier MP43 as a more Jack of All Stats of the regular firearms compared to the weaker but more common MP40 and the stronger but slower Kar98. It can't be used for stealth since it doesn't get a suppressor, but it is good for long, full-out assaults since it fires noticeably faster than either, and its upgrades include a tactical scope for better mid-range accuracy, a drum magazine to double its capacity, and an ammo pouch to double its reserve capacity as well.
  • The "Assault Rifle 1946" in Wolfenstein: The New Order's prologue chapter, the Nightmare Sequence retread of a Wolf3D level, and in Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, is for all intents and purposes a slightly-upgraded StG 44, the primary differences being bulged-out "bullet acceleration tanks" on the sides and a folding foregrip to give it a profile reminiscent of the better-known MP 40 (which, in true Good Guns, Bad Guns fashion, only the Nazis ever fold out despite the advantages it would add). In The Old Blood it also has a three-round burst mode, which fires the individual bullets faster than full-auto.
    In turn, the "Assault Rifle 1960" from The New Order is also slightly based on the StG, with a more drastic and extensive set of modifications that make it similar to the G3. It keeps the folding foregrip from the '46 version (and characters keep the tendency to only make use of it if they're Nazis) and the bulged-out bullet acceleration tanks, feeds from larger triple-column magazines that give it an increased 45-round capacity, and in the Gibraltar Bridge level you can find a multi-shot drum-fed Grenade Launcher to stick under the barrel, which makes it one of the most versatile guns in the game. It returns with most of the same characteristics in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, this time identified as simply the "Sturmgewehr", though its capacity is reduced to 30 rounds per magazine (so as not to obsolete the "Maschinenpistole", which gets the 45-round capacity but is weaker) and the underslung rocket launcher is worked into a different gun; it can be upgraded to tape two mags together for a sort-of doubled capacity with a much quicker reload on the first mag, armor piercing bullets, and a side-folding scope to let it serve the same role as the previous game's more fictional "AR Marksman".
• Available in the second and third games of the Sniper Elite series as a DLC item. Not particularly accurate, interestingly, but cuts through enemy infantry, with a fairly small cone of fire in automatic mode. The fourth features the prototype version, the MKb 42 (H), instead.
  • Usable in the spinoff Zombie Army Trilogy as a secondary weapon. The most accurate of its fellow automatics, but overshadowed by the PPSh's large magazine and the Blyscawica's power.
• Day of Infamy features it for the Wehrmacht's "Kampfunterstützung" (Support) class, realistically restricted to maps based on battles that take place after its adoption in mid- to late-1944, such as Foy.
• Appears as a 3-star AR in Girls' Frontline. She has a strict and zealous personality. One of the ubiquitous grenade-launching ARs, hers is supposedly based off the Schiessbecher device.
• Hell Let Loose issues this weapon to the German Automatic Rifleman and Assault classes, with the former receiving it as their default weapon, while for the latter it is their final weapon unlock at Level 9, and comes with a Satchel Charge as additional firepower.
• Squad 44: the weapon is available for the German factions on maps set from 1944 onwards. Due to it's comparative rarity to other German weapons, though, only a handful of German classes in a squad are issued the weapon.
• Guns, Gore & Cannoli 2 makes this assault rifle available for pickup by Vinnie Cannoli once he lands in Normandy, and is the weapon of choice for the German Sturmabteilung soldiers. Compared to the Thompson and MP40, this weapon does noticeably more damage, in exchange for its ammunition being relatively scarcer.

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