Submachine Gun

"Oh Man, this is just like Counter Strike!"

- Louis

The Submachine Gun deals light progressive damage. It holds 50 rounds with 480 in reserve, and has enough accuracy to shoot at medium range. Although it is replaced by the assault rifle in tier 2, it still has the highest rate of fire. It also has noticeable stopping power. The main drawback to the submachine gun is the high rate of ammo expenditure; most Survivors using a submachine gun will run out of ammo partially through a level if they aren't conservative with their shooting. However, it is great for medium-ranged closed-quarters such as large warehouses and apartments. Its high rate of fire, penetration and accuracy make it a longer ranged alternative to the pump shotgun. It is a better ranged-alternative to the silenced SMG as the silenced SMG is less accurate with a higher DPS at close-range.

Tactics

 * Fire in small bursts. This keeps accuracy up and prevents you from shooting zombies when they're already dying.
 * Try to fire mostly while crouching still. This makes for better accuracy and an opportunity for your team to shoot over your head if an Infected comes into your blind spot.
 * Learn when not to shoot. Your ammo needs conservation because of its high rate of fire. Let someone with a shotgun take point and use your bullets to cover him.
 * When shooting, aim for your target's feet and move up the Infected's body. The Infected slows down from the leg damage and eventually gets headshot. This strategy also limits friendly fire.
 * The submachine gun can shoot through damaged doors without risking further damage.
 * When an Infected attacks you, your accuracy drops. When you need to make an accurate shot you will need to knock the Infected off you first.
 * The accuracy of the submachine gun lets it hit enemies at a greater distance.
 * Save pounced or snared teammates at long range by shooting the Hunter, the Smoker, or the tongue.
 * Take out long range threats before the rest of the team pushes on.
 * Reload often. The high rate of fire on the submachine gun means that the 50 round magazine will run dry fairly quickly.
 * One advantage the submachine gun has over the assault rifle is its higher reserve capacity and higher rate of fire. This is particularly useful to more easily decimate a hallway of Infected, while the assault rifle is best shooting at longer ranges than in corridors. One player can use the submachine gun while the other with the assault rifle can conserve ammunition in close quarter hordes.

Left 4 Dead 2
The Submachine Gun returns with new animations. It is much more efficient than its Left 4 Dead counterpart as it's ammo reserve is 650, compared to the L4D SMG's 480 reserve. However, the player should try to burst fire anyways so as to preserve ammo, because the SMG still has a very high rate of fire.

The submachine gun is better than the Silenced Submachine Gun for long range work because it is more accurate when burst fired, even though it does less damage per bullet than the silenced.

Behind the Scenes
Originally, the submachine gun's flashlight was mounted directly under its handguard. In the final version, the flashlight is mounted on the right side of the gun.

The submachine gun is based on Counter-Strike ' s MP5N submachine gun. Its "price" in the gun's weapon file is the same as the MP5N's, and it references the MP5N in its "animation" listing. A scoped MP5 is also carried by the Survivors in some of the posters.

Trivia

 * The submachine gun is modeled after the Uzi.
 * The ammo count is 480, hinting that the Uzi may have originally used its real life capacity of 32 rounds.
 * Left 4 Dead's submachine gun has a much higher rate of fire than the actual Uzi, resembling the Micro Uzi variant.
 * The damage contradicts the damage rates in Counter-Strike: Source, where the silenced weapons have more accuracy but less damage and the burst fire does more damage but has more recoil. In this case, the silenced submachine gun does more damage and is less accurate and the submachine gun has more accuracy and deals less damage.