The M4 just feels like it kind of tries to do every other 'Mando rifle's job and consequently comes out weaker in any one of them in their assigned role. It has 500 total rounds at lvl 6 like the bullpup, but because of the insane recoil on it in FA you can't use it like an upgraded bullpup for FA headpopping and the high RoF + AK sized mag means you can't hipfire accurately in FAfor long periods like the 'pup.
Okay. So it's no Bullpup. Maybe it's an equivalent to the AK? Afterall, it weighs and costs a comparable amount, has the same ammo capacity, and deals only slightly less damage but deals it much faster, resulting in a higher DPS. Sounds good in theory, but in practice the recoil and RoF makes it inferior to the AK in it's role - it's again, hard to accurately hip fire, and the high RoF means scoring head hits without dumping more rounds than you wanted into the wall above/behind the zed in FA is pretty damn hard. The lessened damage makes spraying into zed's torsos even less effective aside from the fact that the recoil tends to carry the muzzle high enough in only a few rounds that you hit them in the head.
So, it can't really replace the 'pup in it's role as FA headpopper with loads of ammo. It can't replace the AK as a FA CQB rifle. Maybe it's good at long range, yeah?
It turns out, this is the one area the M4 shines. It's quite accurate in semi, has pretty good sights, and plenty of ammo. Only one problem: there's already a Commando rifle that's a good semi-auto long range weapon, and it's the SCAR. The SCAR has 12 less rounds per magazine and a smaller total ammo pool (375 vs. 500), but it deals nearly twice as much damage per round (97 vs. 52 at level 6). While this isn't terribly important for most zeds (who have 44 head health even on HoE - meaning the M4 is just as capable of decapping them) sirens and Husks have about 400-ish, meaning the SCAR can drop them twice as fast. That it does superior damage overall makes it better for also quickly dumping into said specimens when they're in your face. FOr this reason it's also better for massed fire into Scrakes/FPs if there's no trash that needs to be cleaned up (a rare occaison, but hey, it can happen).
So, all in all? The M4's a workable replacement for the SCAR as your long range option, and I usually pick it up until I can afford AK/SCAR, but it really doesn't do much that the SCAR itself doesn't do better, aside from having more bullets. It's something of a matter of opinion/playstyle if you use it or not.
Also:
Lacedaemonius said:
Of all the unique 5.56 guns they could have used, they had to use the oldest, most unoriginal, out of place gun they could find. Oh, and they had to make it look like cowadooty.
While I would have prefered the M4 to be some other 5.56 rifle (like, say, the fullsize version of the 'Bullpup' - the L85A2/SA80), it's hardly out of place. The British military has a number of rifles in the same style as the M4 - namely the 'C8SFW', a Canadian variant of the M4 that the SAS is rather fond of.
Also I'm not sure how it's "cowadooty." I guess having a red-dot on anything makes it cowadooty these days (quick, delete the 'pup, it's even more cowadooty with that Eotech!
)