This article will be the first of a series that will detail all the guns in the popular online First person shooter, Call of Duty Black Ops. All the information you would ever need on a sniper in Call of Duty Black Ops will be listed here. The power of the rifles, the recoil, the sway, the level it is acquired among other things will be here. Call of Duty Black Ops has four sniper rifles total, three semi-automatic and one bolt action.
Dragunov
The Dragunov is seen and can be picked up in many levels of the single player campaign. Online, the Dragunov is unlocked at level 3 with the default sniper class. It has low damage when compared to the other three snipers and makes up for this by having the highest starting ammunition of all the snipers. The magazine holds 10 rounds, the most of any sniper in the game without the extended magazines attachments. In order to achieve one shot kills with the Dragunov, the sniper must aim and hit the head, neck or upper torso of the enemy. The Dragunov packs 40 rounds and has high recoil. It takes approximately 3 seconds to reload the Dragunov and it is a semi-automatic sniper rifle. From personal experience, the Dragunov is a pain to use as most of the time, two shots are needed to drop an enemy and if you are using a sniper, you want one shot kills. As with all sniper and all guns in general, every camouflage in the game can be applied to the Dragunov.
WA2000
The WA2000 makes a single appearance in the Call of Duty Black Ops Campaign, appearing in the level Victor Charlie. Online, the WA2000 is a semi-automatic sniper rifle. One can unlock the WA2000 at level ten. It starts of with 24 rounds and has a magazine size of 6 rounds. The recoil and sway are the lowest out of the four snipers in Call of Duty Black Ops. In order to get one shot kills, the sniper must aim and shoot at the enemies head, neck or upper torso. Reload time is approximated at about 3 to 3.5 seconds. Its low recoil makes it a lot easier to use then the Dragunov.
L96A1
The L96A1 is not available in the single player campaign of Call of Duty Black Ops. In the online multiplayer, the L96A1 is unlocked at level 27. It is the only bolt action sniper rifle in Black Ops. The L96A1 has the highest damage output and the highest recoil of all the snipers in the game. It’s a one shot kill on everything but the lower body and the arms. It packs 20 rounds to start of, 5 per magazine. Reload time is estimated at 3.5 seconds. It is the most consistent gun when it comes to getting one shot kills which explains its popularity online. The L96A1 has a unique ACOG scope attachment that is identical to the ACOG of the Enfield Assault Rifle.
PSG1
The PSG1 is the classified sniper rifle in Call of Duty Black Ops. It can be unlocked as early as level 27 if one purchases all the other sniper rifles in the game. The PSG1 is a semi-automatic, has a 5 round magazine and comes with 20 shots total. The recoil is slightly less then the recoil of the L96A1. The PSG1 is the strongest of the semi-automatic sniper rifles in Call of Duty Black Ops. It can one shot kill if the bullet hits the head, the neck, the upper or lower torso.
The sniper rifles in Call of Duty Black ops are all well done and represented accurately. They are very affective online when used on the bigger maps such as Array or Jungle. From personal experience, I would suggest that you try out all four of the rifles as each has its own positives and negatives.