M249 SAW

The **M249 SAW** is a light machine gun in BlastGen. It appears in the Campaign and Multiplayer modes.

## Campaign

The **M249** is Emerson's weapon of choice in the mission Infiltration. He has a special variant of it, with a shorter barrel and a side mounted magazine. The M249 can also be seen held by one of the Marines in Vaughn's team in the mission Desert Recon, though it isn't obtainable in the mission. The last time the M249 is seen is in the mission Final Fight, where the M249, while rarer, is one of the machine guns used by the Czech Militia alongside the more common RPD. It is able to kill in one shot to the chest and head, and has a faster fire rate than the RPD, but ammo is scarce and hard to find, so players should stick with the RPD, as ammo for it is more plentiful, especially in Final Fight.

## Multiplayer

The M249 SAW is unlocked at Rank 2, and is the first light machine gun unlocked. It is one of the most powerful automatic weapons in the game, alongside the AK-47, dealing around 45 damage per shot, which translates to a 3 shot kill, or 2 shots if one bullet hits the head. It has one of the largest magazine sizes in the game, sitting at a blistering 150 rounds per magazine. However, it only has one magazine in reserve, prompting players to conserve ammo. It fires at a fire rate of around 936 RPM, which makes the M249 extremely competitive in close quarters. However, at the cost of this, it has the worst hip fire accuracy in the game, with most bullets barely landing on the crosshair, requiring players to aim down the sights to target enemies at longer range. Even though it has a fast fire rate, it has a rather low amount of recoil, however it still has some recoil to the sides but its manageable. Unlike other weapons, it does not have much sway, if not any. This makes it excellent for long range encounters. The M249's range is very long as well, and it does not lose its damage at range at all, making it a deadly weapon.

The M249 gets its fair share of attachments. The Sniper Scope isn't recommended as it adds more sway, but it increases the M249's long range effectiveness significantly. The Foregrip removes the sideways recoil, but isn't really necessary otherwise. Laser Sight is one of the most useful attachments for the M249, as it increases its hip fire accuracy significantly, making it even more deadly up close. Rapid Fire increases the fire rate to a gargantuan 1123 RPM. It is one of the most powerful attachments on the M249 as it suffers little to no recoil penalty when Rapid Fire is attached, and when combined with Laser Sight, makes it one of the most deadliest close quarters weapons in the game, even beating out most shotguns and submachine guns. Extended Mags increases the magazine size to a gigantic 180 rounds, the highest possible magazine capacity for a weapon in the game. This heavily increased ammo capacity makes this weapon extremely competitive, though it is considered overkill. Overall the M249 is a decent weapon that is never overlooked. Players are more often to use the M249 than the AK-47.

## Trivia

* The M249 SAW's barrel can overheat when firing for prolonged periods of time, however this does not affect the performance of the weapon.
* It has an unusable bipod that is folded at all times. When a Foregrip is attached, the bipod disappears.
* There is a skull sticker on the handguard.