Cod 4 Title

• Every weapon is well balanced to the point that you can use any weapon and it will be 'the best'.
• Just because the AK47 does a bit more damage per second than the M4 doesn't mean the M4 is 'weaker'.
• Each weapon has different handling that suits different players and play styles.
• These differences can be recognized, understood, and with use you will come to find the 'best' gun for you.
• There are many more things that just damage or rate of fire or a ridiculously-detailed chart can't explain.
• Use every gun - find the one that you like best and it will be your best.
• The angle at which the bullet penetrates an object has a great effect. Ten degrees can make a big difference. From 45° or more, the bullet may do nothing.
• ALL Weapons (LMGs and Snipers included) lose damage over distance after passing through a wall to as low as 1.
• Types/materials of objects are numerous, a wood board and some flimsy sheet metal can make difference of several points.

In Game Stats bar

• The little bars for the primary attributes are vague, lump together several factors to define one 'attribute' and in some cases, are wrong.
• The game doesn't refer to the actual weapon data to make the bars; the 'attributes' are pre-set little graphics that only appear when you highlight the weapon.
• Examples of wrong: M4 and G36c do the same damage per bullet. Uzi has a faster rate of fire and the same damage per bullet as the P90.
• Example of vague: 'Range' in the little bars refers to several things that are unrelated to one another. Equipping an ACOG increases Range while a Silencer decreases it - this is misleading, as a Silencer is known to 'weaken' bullets that travel far. So the scope would increase the range at which the bullet will still be going strong? No. It only increases zoom, and that is the only reason why 'range' is shown to be increased.
• Also there is no such thing as a 'range bug', the Skorpion and pistol bullets travel forever at their minimum damage just like every other weapon (except shotguns, by design).

Intended effects

• LMG Grips improve View Kick Center Speed (camera returning to where you were aiming) by a small but effective amount.
• Shotgun Grips decrease overall View Kick.
• ACOG scopes, when sighted, set ZoomFOV to 30, which is about 2x.

Discrepancies

• Some weapons have differences in themselves with some attachments, or are different from all other weapons.
• These differences may be intentional or erroneous (at least one is), IW knows which is which.
• M249 SAW with a Grip has improved Hip Accuracy (Between Assault and SMG hip accuracies)
• G3 with a Silencer has an erroneously long Melee Delay, longer than the stabbing animation, so the melee attack does not work
• AK47's damage is 40-20 when equipped with a Silencer or Red Dot
• M40A3 with an ACOG does 75 damage
• AK-74u when equipped with a Silencer or Red Dot has the hip accuracy of the assault rifles
• Remington 700, when sighted, has an ADSIdleAmount of 60 in which it moves around more compared to the other four sniper rifles (40)
• (CHANGED) P90 sprint time at '1.75' (others have 1) - a patch for consoles has changed it to '1' (still 1.75 for PC as of now)
• M21 sniper rifle ALSO has a Sprint time of 1.75 while all others have one. If the P90 were changed, surely this should be on the to-do list.

About Idle Accuracy, G36C rocks!

There are four weapons in the Assault and SMG classes that 'idle' when sighted:
The AK47, the M4, the AK74u and the G36c
The first three all move from the center of the screen at the same speed and radius. The fourth is unique.
Not only does the G36c deviate far less, it moves slower AND stance improves its steadyness.

The hard numbers don't matter, saying they do 40 at 1.5 won't make a bit of sense, I'm just showing them to explain it:
The values involved are called ADSIdleAmount, ADSIdleSpeed and ADSIdle[Stance]Factor.

I'll just address the M4 since the three are the same.
M4 has a universal ADS Idle Speed of 1.5 and an Amount of 40, all attachments included (ACOG too).
G36c has 70% the Amount (28) and nearly half the speed (0.8) of the M4 when Standing.
Crouching, the G36c's idle Amount is half (21) and the speed is almost a third (0.6) of the M4.
Prone, it'll barely move (11, 0.3).

The G36c is very steady when aiming down the sights compared to the other fully-automatic rifles.
Even moreso if crouched or prone.

Before anybody asks: No Sniper rifle or ACOG moves around less if crouched or prone. (oh hey, new discrepancy)
The G36c (+ attachments, ACOG included) is the only Primary Weapon that benefits from different Idle Stance Factors.
The RPG-7 benefits from less idling with stances, but that doesn't improve the accuracy or random twisting and turning of the rocket.
The pistols Idle at nearly the same rate as the G36c and have slightly improved steadyness when crouched or prone.

Steady Aim Hip Accuracy Image

The percentages for Stopping Power, Sonic boom and Juggernaut are mostly irrelevant. A simple explanation:
Juggernaut was designed so that you survive take one more shot from any weapon.
Stopping Power was designed so that you would need to make one less hit with any weapon to score a kill.
Even without the literal cancelling-out, the two are perfectly balanced against each other.
Sonic Boom increases damage just enough for Hand Grenades to kill even at the very edge of the indicator range.

Hip Accuracy is simple enough. Draw a circle that touches all four crosshairs, and the bullet will land within that circle.Steady Aim improves accuracy by shrinking the diameter and tightening the crosshairs to 65%.

Credit to SSoG on the CharlieOscarDelta boards for doing his own (not this one) test.

My test, PC screen resolution of 1680x1050.
Using the SAW's hip accuracy of 10, that way it is easier to calculate.
Two screenshots, with and without Steady Aim. A simple measurement, and the crosshairs have closed in at approximately 66% of their original distance.
Scaling the circles to any other weapon's crosshairs results in the same change in accuracy.
Using a mod for PC, I changed the hip spread of the SAW's 10 to 6.6, and it appeared a pixel too large.
Change to 6.5 and it is a perfect match to a 10 + Steady Aim.
End result: 65% hip accuracy exactly.
Also, found the relevant number for Perk_HipSpreadMultiplier. It is 65.

Range Explanation

A Few Perk Stats

Misc Notes