The shotgun has a special place in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Those who use them love them and those who don't use them hate them. In close quarters, they outduel even an SMG with stopping power that can't be matched. Plus, while their range is short, it's not entirely zero.

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With only four selections in the shotgun category for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, players will have a profound choice to make when they decide to use a shotgun. Each one functions in a special what that will either excite the user or leave them wishing they could change in the middle of the match.

Updated on May 2nd, 2023 by Hodey Johns: With a few seasons, new maps, statistical teaks, and some major overhauls over and done with, the landscape has predictably shifted in Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The franchise has always been quick to nerf guns that see their win rates get too high and buff weapons that see their win rates drop off. The changes may be subtle, but in a game that differentiates time to kill by milliseconds, that's all it takes to see something's usage go from top to bottom. This list has been overhauled, looking at the loadouts of the best players and the most successful loadouts of the community at large.

5 Bryson 890

Outside of a pixel's worth of difference in handling, the Bryson 890 is the same or worse than the Bryson 800 in every way. Weapons like this often have an advantage to using them that doesn't show up on the stat sheet and this is indeed true for the Bryson 890.

The shotgun uses a magazine instead of loading individual shells. The problem is, if the gun is only down a few shots, this is actually longer than the standard reload and forbids shooting while reloading. It's also louder. Tuning the weapon can help out with these issues, but it's better to tune up a gun that is average or better.

4 Bryson 800

If it weren't for its worse variant, the Bryson 800 would be last on the list. It does have the best recoil control but this is generally a dump stat for shotguns that are already very easy to steady between shots. For the Bryson 800, the time between shots is an eternity, negating its only special statistic.

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The pump between each shot takes far too long. If the opponent didn't die in the first hit, they've got plenty of time to recover, turn, and shoot their attacker. Using the best loadout for the Bryson 800 can help quicken up the time between shots or make each shot more lethal, but it's probably best to just use a better shotgun.

3 KV Broadside

When comparing the statistics between the Expideite 12 and the KV Broadside, gamers will notice that the bars don't move. The KV Broadside gun boasts the fastest fire rate, but it's statistically on par with the Expedite 12. So the tiebreaker needs to weigh that the KV Broadside has one extra shell in the chamber but uses an inferior magazine.

This extra shell comes at the expense of some backup ammo so it might require a refill for long killstreaks. But this is a category for shotguns and, ultimately, every one two to shots should be kills, so this reserve ammo is somewhat irrelevant. As night maps continue to climb in popularity, the KV Broadside gets some unexpected traction.

2 Expedite 12

Players get the Expedite 12 and it's a solid gun for the entire game. From the first level until it's time to prestige, this shotgun is ready to be a part of the action. The shotgun is semi-automatic, much faster than the Bryson variants, and the seven shells in each reload are plenty to clear whole rooms.

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It does rank dead last in accuracy, range, and damage. The poor accuracy and range are to be assumed for most shotguns, but the damage does limit its bid to be the best. Still, the reload is better than the KV Broadside so it's worthy of investment.

1 Lockwood 300

The Lockwood 300 takes first place in five of the seven metrics used for weapons. The downside is that it only has two shells loaded at a time. That hardly matters when two shells take out two enemies or one enemy at a distance.

The recoil control is the worst for shotguns, but, even though the firing rate is tops, there is still plenty of time to steady and ready another shot to compensate. The low handling does make it hard to aim down scopes promptly and it is something to watch out for. For anything closer than mid-range, hipfire will eliminate the need for handling at all. Get the graphics set just right and enemies will be obvious and easy to take out.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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