Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is known for its realism, which has characterized the shooter since release. This extends to the smallest details. One of these details is surely right in front of you every day, and yet you have never noticed it.
What detail is that? It concerns the sights (engl. “Iron Sights”), specifically the sight of your weapon when you are aiming instead of shooting from the hip. This is not always the same.
The sights change depending on which attachments you equip at the Gunsmith on the weapon – excluding scope attachments, because these completely replace the Iron Sights.
This applies both to various blueprints and to custom-built weapons. A short compilation by Reddit user NotMegatron shows the different Iron Sights of assault rifles compared with various attachments:
Where does this come from? This phenomenon is presumably due to the realism that Modern Warfare strives for, especially concerning weapons. Most of the attachments that change the Iron Sights are barrels.
Since the front sight is mounted further up the barrel and the rear sight is closer to the shooter’s face, the front sight appears smaller the further it is from the rear sight. This roughly means that the front sight appears smaller the longer the barrel is.
However, the developers have apparently even built in various versions of sights, depending on the different variations a weapon can have. This is because other manufacturers also use different designs.
The impact of the detail on gameplay
Does this hinder me while playing? It is essentially just a cool, small detail that shows how much effort has gone into the development. However, it could have a minimal impact on your game, after all, many builds consciously use iron sights instead of a scope attachment.
Generally, it holds true: the shorter your barrel, the larger the sight. This means that more of your field of view is obstructed when using a shorter barrel. A shorter barrel is especially necessary for close-combat weapon builds and various secret weapons.
However, the difference is so small that most players will probably hardly notice it. It is much more important to choose the barrel that provides the desired advantages.
Other attachments have a significantly greater impact on your game. There are even numerous attachments with hidden effects that the game does not directly reveal to you. You should pay more attention to these when upgrading a weapon. Choosing the barrel based on the size of the sights would be a bit exaggerated.
