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The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Black Ops.
For other variants, see LM-S and G3.

The PSG1 is a semi-automatic sniper rifle featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Call of Duty: Black Ops[]

Campaign[]

The PSG1 is only seen in "Numbers". It appears in the first and second weapon caches, and is very powerful, killing enemies in one shot just about anywhere in the body. However, the gun's extreme recoil is somewhat of a problem, so it is recommended to trade it for the more common Dragunov, unless the player can control the recoil.

Multiplayer[]

The PSG1 is a "Classified" weapon, unlocked for purchase after the WA2000 and L96A1 are purchased (except for the Wii version where one can buy it without buying the L96A1 first).

The PSG1 is a moderate-high damage per bullet sniper rifle. Unsuppressed, it will achieve a one shot kill to the entire body bar the limbs. Suppressed, it will lose the ability to net one shot kills to center mass, requiring a neck or headshot to kill enemies in one shot. In hardcore game modes, the PSG1 will always be a one shot kill, regardless of a suppressor. The PSG1's characteristics and this high damage per bullet make the PSG1 quite powerful while retaining a good amount of versatility in terms of accuracy and fire rate. The PSG1 has high bullet penetration power, allowing the PSG1 to deal heavy damage through most walls, although much less likely to get one shot kills.

The PSG1's rate of fire is somewhat lacking for a sniper rifle. Being a semi-automatic sniper rifle, it has the lowest firecap of the three semi-automatic snipers, firing up to a limit of 234 RPM, or less than five shots per second. The PSG1's rate of fire is limiting, but due to how powerful the PSG1 is in terms of one-shot kill potential, the fire rate feels more of a luxury than a weakness.

The PSG1 has some odd accuracy traits for a sniper rifle. It has the second lowest amount of idle sway for a sniper rifle, its crosshairs are somewhat thick, and the PSG1's recoil is quite heavy, kicking distinctively upwards and to the right at an almost perfect 45 degree angle. However, the PSG1 has the highest centerspeed of all sniper rifles, making it so a player that limits their rate of fire able to retain near-perfect accuracy. Overall, the PSG1 rivals the WA2000 in terms of accuracy, although will not surpass its precision.

The PSG1's handling characteristics are quite poor. The hip-fire spread is ludicrously large, the PSG1 will need 400 milliseconds to aim down the sight, and the PSG1 permits the player to move at only 90% of the base speed. The reload speeds on the PSG1 are also quite slow, taking 3.2 seconds to reload with a partially filled mag, and 3.5 seconds for a completely empty mag. The player can Reload Cancel at about 2.2 seconds. For a sniper rifle, this is fairly typical, but in the grand scheme, is quite slow, and the player will need to conceal themselves while reloading.

One of the PSG1's defining weaknesses is its small magazine capacity. The PSG1 will only hold five rounds per magazine. As well, the player will only spawn in with 20 rounds total without Scavenger for the PSG1. Ammunition will be a problem for trigger happy users, as the PSG1 sorely lacks it.

The PSG1 gets the usual assortment of sniper rifle attachments. Extended Mag doubles the magazine capacity to ten rounds, and makes it so the 20 round ammo loadout is split between only two magazines instead of four. This eases the pain of reloading and the ability to tackle serial engagements. If using the PSG1 aggressively, this attachment can be very useful.

The ACOG Scope is of the American design, and in general, shouldn't be the first choice to consider. The ACOG Scope does not allow the player to steady the idle sway whatsoever, making the player dependent on fighting the idle sway manually to ensure the shot lands.

The Infrared Scope can be quite useful on maps with poor obscurity, and works well in a more defensive role, allowing the player to detect enemies that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. However, the Infrared Scope has two big weaknesses: clarity when aiming is severely reduced, and Ghost Pro users are completely immune to the Infrared Scope's highlighting.

The PSG1 is not optimal to use a Suppressor on, as its main advantage is its ability to get impressive one shot kills. Using the Suppressor removes all the body multipliers at center mass, leaving only the neck and head left to get one shot kills against.

The Variable Zoom is easily the most versatile attachment. The Variable Zoom allows the player to change the zoom level to their liking, allowing a larger field of view when the low zoom option is equipped, or a larger amount of focus on a particular spot on the high zoom option. Due to the versatility it offers, the Variable Zoom will rarely be ill fitted to the player's liking.

Attachments[]

Gallery[]

For camouflage images, see PSG1/Camouflage.
For attachment images, see PSG1/Attachments.

Trivia[]

  • When using the Variable Zoom scope, no matter what magnification being used, the crosshairs will always say the scope is at 12x magnification.
  • When picked up, the user will turn off the safety.
  • In the scope it says "Matte 4 Plex Riflescope Redfarm MP 12 x 40mm".
  • In the Wii version of Black Ops, the PSG1 lacks a 1.5 multiplier to the stomach if attachments are equipped. This problem was also on the PS3 and Xbox 360, but it was fixed on those consoles.
  • The killfeed icon on the PSG1 is pictured with Extended Mags.
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