Confused by the weapon attachment selection? Want to know what each attachment does? Why does this gun kick to the ceiling while this other one barely moves when you shoot it? This guide will help.
 
 

Introduction

I got bored, so I decided to make a stupidly detailed guide to weapon attachments and recoil because I’m a huge nerd. All testing done by me and percent values are approximate due to inaccuracy in my measurement method.
 
 
Please note, shotguns and less-lethals aren’t covered in this guide, but that may change. Shotguns are too hard to consistently measure due to their spread, and I don’t really use less-lethals since I don’t care about getting S-ranks. If the devs wanted me to arrest the suspects, they shouldn’t have made shooting them so satisfying.
 
 
 

Weapon Attachments

TL;DR If you want to metagame, use the vertical grip for your underbarrel and the SFMB brake if loud and suppressor if quiet.
 
 
 

— Optics

Optics are the thing you aim with. You put the dot on the bad guy and press Mouse Button 1 to make them dead. In general, optics are down to personal preference. However, there are a few quirks worth noting that differentiate them.
 
 

Red dot/holographic optics have different zoom values with ADS Zoom enabled.

 
 
There are roughly three tiers of zoom for the unmagnified optics.
 

• The EXPS3 and SRS have the lowest zoom
• The RMR and SRO have a mid-tier zoom.
• The T2 and M5B have the highest zoom.

Images taken at 110 FOV.
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
While mostly negligible and all of the red dots are usable when room clearing, taking an M5B or T2 might be helpful when engagement ranges could possibly be longer than across a room, such as the outdoor sections of Port Hoken Raid.
 
 

Magnified optics are affected by both ADS Zoom and your FOV

 
 
This is a bit hard to describe, but ADS Zoom and your FOV setting mess with your view through the SDR and ATAK-R scopes. With ADS Zoom on, the image through the SDR will appear to be close to 1x magnification. Just take a look at the pictures. This is best illustrated by looking at the vertical lines on the cargo container.
 
 

 
110 FOV, ADS Zoom on
 
 

 
110 FOV, ADS Zoom off
 
 

 
90 FOV, ADS Zoom on
 
 

 
90 FOV, ADS Zoom off
 
 

The M5B is affected by glare

 
 
Unlike every other red dot, the M5B has visible gla*s that gets obscured by glare depending on ambient lighting. It’s possible for it to mess up your sight picture.
 
 

 
 
The other optic in this zoom category, the T2, isn’t affected by glare, but it’s got a relatively cramped sight picture on most guns.
 
 

Optic height does not affect bore offset

 
 
For the uninitiated, bore offset is the height between your optic’s aiming axis and your weapon’s barrel. At close ranges, shots will land low of your intended point of aim due to this. In reality, the higher you’ve mounted your optic, the greater your bore offset.
 
 
However, in Ready or Not, your optic’s height does not affect bore offset. The SRS on a riser has the same deviation between point of aim and point of impact as an EXPS3 or T2.
 
 

 
 
 

— Muzzles

In most cases, muzzle attachments will provide some form of recoil reduction. There a couple of exceptions, which will be noted later. How I got these recoil reduction measurements will also be explained later in the recoil plots section.
 
 

Assault Rifle Muzzles

 
 
Values for the 5.56 muzzle attachments were calculated on the HK416 but tested and found to be roughly consistent across all other ARs.
 
 
SOCOM Suppressor
 
Available to most a*sault rifles, the SOCOM is what you take if you want to be a bit quieter when you shoot the bad guys.
 

 
 
Pros:

• Makes your gun quieter
• 15% recoil reduction
• Hides muzzle flash, which may be useful if you don’t want to blind teammates while under night vision

 
Cons:

• Makes your weapon longer

 
ASR Brake
 
The first of two rifle muzzle brakes, the ASR is the medium between recoil control and maintaining visibility while firing.
 

 
 
Pros:

• 35% recoil reduction
• Less disruptive to your sight picture when firing than the SFMB

 
Cons:

• None

ASR Brake while shooting
 
 

 
 
SFMB Brake
 
The other muzzle brake, the SFMB maximizes recoil reduction but messes with your visibility slightly while shooting.
 

 
 
Pros:

• 42% recoil reduction

 
Cons:

• When shooting, a jet of gas is sent straight up, disrupting your sight picture

SFMB Brake while shooting
 
 

 
 
PBS-1 Suppressor
 
Exclusive to the SLR47, it’s the only muzzle attachment usable on that gun as well as the only recoil reducing attachment. It does the normal suppressor things. Why a US police department is using a 60 year old Soviet suppressor design, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the replica made by Dead Air.
 

 
 
Pros:

• Makes your gun quieter
• 10% recoil reduction
• Hides muzzle flash

 
Cons:

• Makes your gun longer

Pistol/SMG Muzzles

 
 
Osprey/Large Suppressor/Suppressor
 
Available to the MP5, UMP45, and most handguns, the Osprey is the rectangular suppressor that goes by both “Suppressor” and “Large Suppressor” in the menu. It’s unique in that it actually INCREASES your weapon’s recoil rather than reducing it. I’d avoid this on handguns, especially the USP45 and P92X, but it’s negligible on the MP5 and UMP.
 

 
 
Pros:

• Makes your gun quieter
• Hides muzzle flash

 
Cons:

• 30% recoil increase on MP5
• 17% recoil increase on the UMP
• 15-30% recoil increase on pistols
• Makes your weapon longer

 
Tundra Suppressor
 
Available to the MPX and 5.7 USG, it’s a suppressor that suppresses things. Unlike the Osprey, this one marginally reduces recoil on the MPX. On the 57, it has no recoil reduction at all, but it still suppresses your shots.
 

 
 
Pros:

• Makes your gun quieter
• 8% recoil reduction on MPX only
• Hides muzzle flash

 
Cons:

• Makes your gun longer
• No recoil reduction on 5.7 USG

 
Harvester Suppressor
 
Available only to the MPX, the Harvester is functionally identical to the Tundra. It has the same recoil reduction, and even though the model is shorter than the Tundra’s it has the same length increase in game terms. Take your pick for aesthetics.
 

 
 
Pros:

• Makes your gun quieter
• 8% recoil reduction
• Hides muzzle flash

 
Cons:

• Makes your gun longer

 
Pistol Compensators (Compensator, XF Brake)
 
Available to the G19, M45A1, and P92X, these reduce recoil with no real downsides. No real reason not to use them, but I understand if you don’t want to ruin the look of the P92 and M45 with them.
 

 
 
Pros:

• 45% recoil reduction on G19
• 30% recoil reduction on M45A1
• 20% recoil reduction on P92X

 
Cons:

• They look ugly on the P92X and M45A1

— Underbarrel

Underbarrel attachments are simple:
 
If you want to metagame, use the vertical grip. It provides a 15% recoil reduction, the same as the SOCOM Suppressor, and the other two do nothing.
 
While the angled and combat grips may have some other hidden benefit, I have yet to notice one. I have also not noticed an ADS speed improvement from using any grip compared to no underbarrel. That being said, I still often run the other grips for looks, because looking cool is more important than efficiency.
 
 
There is one exception to this, though. The MP5’s underbarrels all provide the same recoil reduction benefit of 10%, not just the vertical grip, so take your pick for aesthetics. This improvement is negligible, but it mostly offsets the recoil increase of using the Osprey Suppressor.
 
 
 

— Overbarrel

Why Void called this category “Overbarrel” instead of “Accessory” or something like that, I’ll never know.
 
 

Flashlights

 

 
 
Flashlights do what you’d expect, they light up whatever you’re looking at. Every flashlight model has the same brightness, light throw distance, and spill, but they do have minor differences in color temperature. This will probably be your default accessory for most situations.
 
 

Laser Pointer

 

 
 
Projects a red dot onto whatever your gun barrel is pointed at. It’s worth noting that the laser mostly correctly portrays your point of impact, but with a slight offset to the right. At close ranges where bore offset would affect you while aiming with your optic the laser can be a useful tool to take accurate shots quickly. This also pairs well with the ATAK-R scope’s canted aiming mode, but the laser dot has a tendency to disappear in bright lights or at further distances.
 
 

PEQ-15/MAULT IR Laser

 

 
 
Projects a solid laser beam only visible under NVGs at where your gun barrel is pointed. I THINK it shares the same quality as the visible laser where it always shows your correct point of impact, but the laser is so damn bright it’s hard to tell at close range. It also spills a bit of light around where the beam ends, which can be useful in places where it’s pitch black even under NVGs. Useful for looking cool while under night vision, aiming with the ATAK-R’s canted mode under NV, as well as keeping track of teammates’ lines of sight to avoid friendly fire.
 
 
 

— Unique Attachments

As of this writing, two guns have special attachment categories; the M4A1 and UMP45.
 
 

M4A1: Ammunition

 
The M4A1 gets the unique benefit out of all of the other 5.56 a*sault rifles of being able to use PMags that increase your ammo capacity to 35 rounds per magazine. There’s really no reason not to use these, aside from looks. It’s worth noting that ammo checking with these mags will show a full mag icon until you go under 27 rounds in the magazine, so mags showing a full icon could be missing several rounds.
 
 

UMP45: Stock

 
The UMP45’s fifth category lets you fold the stock. This makes the gun shorter, but increases recoil by 40%. In my opinion, it’s really not worth doing unless you really want to minimize weapon length, for some reason. Fold the stock, use the suppressor, and remove your foregrip for a fun time.
 
 
 

Recoil Plots

Recoil was tested by aiming at the intersection of the floor and the base of the pillar in front of the second door in the killhouse. To ensure consistent distance, I walked up to the wall left of the door, looked straight ahead, and strafed right until my gun cleared the doorway. After each test, I would strafe slightly more to the right of the previous point where I stood to make sure I wasn’t shooting at an angle.
 
 
On fully automatic weapons, left mouse button was held until empty. On semi-auto weapons like the pistols, an autoclick macro clicking at 24 clicks per second was used to ensure the maximum rate of fire.
 
 
Coming soon(?): Individual plots for each weapon and their recoil affecting attachments.
 
 

How I measured recoil reduction

 
Testing was similar to the recoil comparison tests, except that I swapped out a single attachment on a single gun between each test. After testing every attachment, I used the precision measurement tool known as MS Paint to draw a straight line from the center of the top impact point to the center of the lowest impact point (or as close as possible while remaining straight) for each attachment. I then divided the heights of these lines in pixels by the height of the no attachment line and subtracted the result from 1.
 
 
 

— Assault Rifles

Comparison

 
All weapons were tested with only the SRS sight equipped to make lining up the first shot easier.
 
I don’t have the supporter edition so there’s no MK1 Carbine, but it should be similar to the SR16 according to the patch notes.
 
 

 
From Left to Right:
 
SA58, M4A1 (30 rounds), ARWC/SBR556, SR16, HK416, MK16, SLR47
 
 

 
From Left to Right:
 
G36C, ARN18
 
 
 

— Submachine Guns

Comparison

 
All weapons were tested with no attachments except for the SRS or SRO sight to make lining up the first shot easier.
 
 

 
Left to Right: MP5A2, UMP45, MPX
 
 
Yes, the MP5 really has that little recoil.
 
 
 

— Pistols

Comparison

 
No attachments were used, aside from the SRO to make lining up the first shot easier.
 
 

 
Left to Right:
 
G19, M45A1, .357 Magnum, P92X, 57 USG, USP45
 
 
 

Changelog

March 14, 2022
 

• Initial Publish

 
 
This is all we can share for In-Depth Weapon Customization and Recoil Guide For Nerds – Ready or Not for today. I hope you enjoy the guide! If you have anything to add to this guide or we forget something please let us know via comment! We check each comment! Don’t forget to check SteamClue.com for MORE!