Hunting Rifle

"I'm grabbing a hunting rifle."

- Zoey

"I'mma snipe some sons-a-bitches."

- Ellis

The Hunting Rifle is the most accurate firearm in Left 4 Dead, and is also slightly more accurate than the Sniper Rifle in Left 4 Dead 2 when the player is moving. It is a semi-automatic Tier 2 scoped rifle. The hunting scope is accessed using a dedicated control. This rifle is highly accurate when used without reference to the scope, but movement of any kind degrades this quality to a marked degree. Unlike other weapons, crouching has no effect on this rifle's accuracy (unless the player is moving, in which case the spread is tighter when the player is moving while crouching than when running).

It holds a 15-round magazine with 150 rounds in reserve, and can shoot through a wide variety of hard cover, thus allowing a player to engage all classes of Infected hidden behind doors, partition walls, furniture and so forth. The Hunting Rifle's superb bullet penetration power is especially useful when facing a horde since a single round can pass through several enemies at once. When required, the Hunting Rifle can be fired almost as fast as a single M1911 Pistol; however, it is normally fired at a slow rate—which is a plus factor in conserving ammo and thus something to be borne in mind when choosing a weapon prior to entering a phase in a chapter known to be heavily infested with enemies.

The Hunting Rifle is a medium to long range weapon best suited for engaging targets in open areas. For example, it is ideal for standing off and sniping a street filled with Common Infected prior to stepping out from a building or alley.

Players using Hunting Rifles are very effective when working with Survivors using shotguns; the Survivor with the Hunting Rifle kills Infected at long ranges, while Survivors with shotguns provide close-range firepower.

The Hunting Rifle is used by Zoey and Ellis (as well as Francis in the Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead 2).

Tactics

 * The Hunting Rifle is the most accurate weapon in both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. While moving (unless you are using the scope) or taking damage, each shot still has a high chance of hitting the target due to its small crosshairs. Using the rifle's scope while moving is another useful option, and allows quick cover of the team from long range without stopping. Activating the scope tightens the crosshairs faster than standing still.
 * Although the Hunting Rifle boasts considerable stopping power against Common Infected, its power is mitigated against Special Infected. Aim for the head to compensate.
 * Fire slowly. Although the Hunting Rifle has a good rate of fire, firing quickly is only effective on the Tank or Witch, both of which require multiple shots to kill. Conversely, more than one shot fired into a line of Common Infected is wasted.
 * Reload strategically. Although this is generally true of every weapon, firing 15 quality shots with the Hunting Rifle during a minor horde event is fairly rare. The Hunting Rifle takes significantly longer to reload than the Assault Rifle, and cannot be canceled like the Auto Shotgun, so keep your magazine full enough to protect team members from Special Infected.
 * Except when in Realism mode, the Hunting Rifle kills a Common Infected in one shot on any difficulty. The rifle can kill numerous Infected in the horde by penetrating, as long as they are appropriately lined up. In Realism, it takes two shots on Easy/Normal and three shots on Advanced/Expert to kill a Common Infected, or one headshot.
 * Be incredibly careful of friendly fire. This applies the most on Expert difficulty, as one shot will leave a Survivor with very low health, and an easy target for any Infected.
 * In choke points such as hallways, tunnels, and other areas where the horde is funneled towards you, the Hunting Rifle is incredibly potent. Since its shots can pass through multiple Infected, all it might take is one to five well-timed shots to eliminate the entire horde. This can be incredibly useful on Expert if your friends are hurt or out of ammo.
 * The Hunting Rifle can shoot through ceilings, floors and walls. However, it can only penetrate one obstacle (except for two doors), and it must be part of the map's world geometry (a brush). Model-based entities such as dumpsters, cars, etc. cannot be penetrated. Because of the gun's large reserve of ammo, it is more viable to fire blindly at walls in order to kill Boomers or Smokers when they are heard compared to the Auto Shotgun or the Assault Rifle.
 * It is possible to kill a Witch solo, even on Expert. First, get as far away as possible while having a clear shot while she runs at you, preferably in a long hallway. Once you're lined up, shoot her head, and since she stumbles backwards; this gives you a chance to fire rapidly at her body. If you run out of ammo before she dies, use your Pistols.
 * Be wary of Smokers. When you are being dragged, the crosshairs open all the way and you cannot scope. Try to aim towards the Smoker in advance if you know you are about to be snatched, allowing you more chances to fire before you are put into the 'dragged' animation.
 * Bracing yourself against something so that you do not move when dragged will keep the crosshairs tight enough for you to fire accurately, potentially allowing you to free yourself.
 * The Hunting Rifle is only moderately effective against Tanks, but has the bonus of allowing the user to attack the Tank from a longer distance, where the Tank is less of a threat.
 * Before leaving the safe room, it is a good idea to pick up the Hunting Rifle (or the Sniper Rifle, Accuracy International AWSM or Steyr Scout in Left 4 Dead 2) and kill all the Infected that you can see. Then you can go back, grab whatever weapon you want and continue on with less Infected to worry about if playing on Expert.
 * Optimally, there should be no more than one Hunting Rifle per team, so if you plan on using it, make sure you are the only one. Two of them can potentially be a liability. When playing with Survivor Bots, Zoey will always pick up a Hunting Rifle if available, so if you want to be the sniper, it would be advisable to choose her as your character.
 * In Left 4 Dead 2, Ellis takes over Zoey's role as the AI team sniper, so the same tactics apply to him.
 * If playing the original campaigns in Left 4 Dead 2, Francis will be the sniper instead.
 * When using Explosive Ammo in conjunction with the Hunting Rifle, try to aim at the feet of groups of Infected. This catches multiple victims in the round's small but powerful blast radius, which will maximize the number of Infected you can kill with each shot.
 * Do not shoot directly at Common Infected when using Explosive Ammo in a Hunting Rifle; the bullet will explode ineffectually upon impact rather than penetrating its target, and you will only kill one Infected instead of multiple.
 * Except in Realism mode, it is usually a waste to use Incendiary Ammo on the Hunting Rifle.
 * Common Infected are already killed in one shot by the Hunting Rifle; using Incendiary Ammo will only add a visual obstruction when you shoot one.
 * Special Infected can be ignited, but they will typically not take enough damage from the fire to reduce the number of shots necessary to kill them.
 * Tanks can be ignited, but it would be more effective to use the Incendiary Ammo with a weapon that has a higher magazine capacity, to extend the length of time that the Tank can be constantly ignited.
 * In Left 4 Dead 2, there are a few places where a Hunting Rifle can spawn before other Tier 2 weapons, such as on the top of the billboard next to the motel in The Highway, inside the Burger Tank in Milltown, and near the end of the walkway in Plank Country after crossing the river (randomly a Hunting Rifle or a Sniper Rifle).
 * Be careful if playing with Survivor Bots; they will always swap their Tier 1 primary weapons with them (due to preference for a Tier 2 over Tier 1 weaponry). Too many Hunting Rifles in a Survivor group may weaken a team against certain threats, such as having no shotgun weapons against the Witch, or general use weapons against panic hordes. In addition, bots are inefficient when dealing at enemies close up with pistols due to their aim at the feet instead of chest/head.
 * Newcomers may prefer the Hunting Rifle over the Sniper Rifle as it is somewhat easier to wield. The Hunting Rifle is lighter and more "flexible" whereas the Sniper Rifle requires more experience.
 * If accuracy is a general problem, it may be better to choose the Sniper Rifle for its significantly increased ammo capacity, so poorly aimed shots do not empty the player's magazine as quickly.

Pros

 * The Hunting Rifle can shoot through lines of Common Infected with a single shot, except for Realism mode.
 * It shares the highest accuracy of any weapon in the game, higher even than the Sniper Rifle.
 * High accuracy means that there is a lower chance of friendly fire from bullet spread.
 * Has the highest penetration along with the Sniper Rifle.
 * A Hunting Rifle user can easily clear out an area or kill Special Infected from a distance.
 * The Hunting Rifle has an effective range well beyond those of any abilities for any of the Infected, allowing you to dispatch them with no risk to yourself.
 * Players can also use the Hunting Rifle to save teammates that are pinned by Special Infected from incredible distances. Players lacking one would have to traverse that distance, resulting in more damage to their teammate and putting themselves at risk of being attacked by Infected en route.
 * The Hunting Rifle will also cut through swarming Common Infected or a thin barrier (such as a wall) and still hit a Special Infected, further improving its efficacy against Special Infected attacking Survivors.
 * The Hunting Rifle has no damage drop off from distance, meaning that, while other weapons will be less effectual at long distances, the Hunting Rifle will deal just as much damage as it does at close range.
 * With its high accuracy, the Hunting Rifle will land shots more consistently at a distance, meaning that fewer shots will be wasted and ammunition will be conserved when the Hunting Rifle is used compared to when other weapons are used.
 * When fighting a Tank or a startled Witch, the Hunting Rifle allows the player to consistently deal damage to the approaching Infected while still increasing the distance between them and their target, allowing them to either kill or weaken the Infected before it has a chance to retaliate.
 * Additionally, the Hunting Rifle can destroy a Tank's rocks in flight, protecting the player from its ranged attack.
 * It has a high reserve ammunition pool. Running out of ammo seldom becomes a problem.
 * Headshots stun the Witch temporarily on any difficulty as long as she is idle (crying).
 * Even without a scope, it can be a very effective close-range weapon, cutting through the horde very easily and with more accuracy than a shotgun.

Cons

 * Accuracy is reduced when running and not scoped.
 * Scoping decreases running speed.
 * Using the scope blocks your peripheral vision, making it is easier for players to be flanked or pinned and forcing them to be more reliant on teammates to protect them.
 * Additionally, if the other Survivors leave an area while you are scoped, you may not see their departure and be left behind, leaving you vulnerable to attack.
 * The magazine is fairly small, forcing you to reload often.
 * The reload animation is significantly longer than the Assault Rifle and cannot be stopped like a shotgun.
 * The rate of fire is capped, meaning that no matter how fast you press the trigger, the rate of fire will remain about 240 rounds per minute.
 * It takes several hits to kill a Common Infected on Realism mode if the penetrated areas are not headshots.
 * Friendly fire can be an issue at close range as a careless shooter can easily take large amounts of health off a whole team.
 * The high bullet penetration of the Hunting Rifle means that even if you shoot a Common Infected, you may still hit a teammate if they are standing in your line of fire.
 * In extremely close-quarter combat with a horde, accuracy is lost seemingly through a programmed setting which mimics the Common Infected bumping and grabbing the rifle barrel. Frequent shoves are thus needed to clear space for a shot.
 * Incendiary Ammo and Explosive Ammo are much less effective when used with the Hunting Rifle than with other weapons.
 * Except on Realism Mode, Incendiary Ammo already kills Common Infected in one shot; adding Incendiary Ammo only creates a fiery visual obstruction when you kill Common Infected.
 * Explosive Ammo actually reduces the efficacy of the Hunting Rifle by preventing bullet penetration; instead of travelling through multiple Common Infected, the bullet will explode ineffectually when it hits the first Infected and fail to kill any behind it.
 * Using Ammo Upgrades on the Hunting Rifle provides fewer upgraded bullets (15) than when they are used on other comparable weapons such as the Sniper Rifle (30) or the Accuracy International AWSM (20).
 * If players have poor accuracy, their missed shots will waste a larger proportion of the Ammo Upgrades compared to other bullet-based weapons; one missed shot with the Hunting Rifle is the equivalent of ten missed shots with the M60.
 * Has the lowest Damage Per Second of any tier 2 weapon in either game (not including international weapons) (tied with the Sniper Rifle, both of which have 360 DPS), even lower than the tier 1 Silenced Submachine Gun.
 * This, along with having the lowest magazine size of any bullet-based primary weapon in either game, makes the Hunting Rifle one of the least effective Tier 2 weapons to use against the Tank (based on damage output at close range); the only tier 2 weapons that take longer to kill the Tank are the International sniper rifles.

Left 4 Dead 2
The Hunting Rifle also appears in Left 4 Dead 2. Its crosshair is tighter when moving, and its ammunition reserve is reduced to 150, but otherwise it functions the same. It does not have new animations, but has new reloading sounds. Though it is a Tier 2 weapon, it seems to be treated like a Tier 1 weapon (with the new Sniper Rifle filling its Tier 2 position), since it tends to be available earlier in campaigns. Due to the overall improvement of the Hunting Rifle for Left 4 Dead 2, the DLC The Sacrifice rebalanced the Left 4 Dead Hunting Rifle to match its counterpart in Left 4 Dead 2, including reduced accuracy penalties when moving along with smaller reserve ammo.

Behind the Scenes
Early screenshots show that the Hunting Rifle's world model had a charging handle on its right side at one time. The handle was removed in the final version, after all cocking animations were removed.

The Hunting Rifle is based on Counter-Strike SIG SG 550 sniper rifle. Its "price" in the gun's weapon file is the same as the SG 550's, and it references the SG 550 in its "animation" listing. However, its firing sound is a modified version of the Counter-Strike ' s Scout's firing sound.