Everybody who has seen the .50 BMG, knows that it is an amazingly large cartage. The .50 caliber ammunition is mostly used in heavy machine guns and often has armor piercing characteristics. A lot of vehicle mounted guns use those bullets and they are famed to be able to take down aircrafts with ease. The American Barrett Firearms Company has a history of incorporating this firepower to sniper rifles.
The M95 is the product of optimizations made to the earlier Barrett M90. The major difference being the grip and trigger are moved a bit forward, with the idea of making magazine extraction a bit easier. Some of the parts are also chromed. But in its essence is still a Bolt Action sniper rifle with a bullpup design. The decision to put the magazine behind the grip is made to keep the length as short as possible (as is with all bullpup designs). Even so the M95 is a hefty weapon 45 inches (114.3 cm) long and 23.5 pounds (10.7 kg) heavy even without the magazine and scope.
Statistics
Weapon Kit: Recon Weapon Caliber: .50 BMG (Browning Machine Gun) Fire Mode: Bolt Action Rate of Fire 26 RPM Magazine Size: 5 Reload time: 6.9 Seconds Damage at 18M: 100 Damage at 36M: 55
Mechanics So, you've made it to the end of the Recon unlock tree and got the M95 as a reward. This rather huge sniper rifle, hides the soul of a "rocket launcher" within. It has the highest damage per bullet of all sniper rifles in Bad Company 2. Compared to the M24, the GOL or the SV98, the M95's One Hit Kill (OHK) range is 18 meters instead of 10 (due to a recent patch). It also does an additional 5 damage over the other rifles at 36 meters. However, it also has the slowest reload time of all sniper rifles and the slowest rate of fire in the entire game. But it more than compensates for that. The M95's bullets possess two interesting traits. One, they hava a slightly lower bullet drop than other sniper bullets. And two, the 50 caliber cartridges are armor piercing. Even so, this weapon does no damage to tanks and APCs and very little damage to helicopters and light vehicles. However, the M95 is an excellent weapon for taking down UAVs. With its fast bullet travel and only one hit required, it can be considered a better UAV destroyer than the Engineer's rocket launchers. Other than that, the high penetration can be used to penetrate thick walls, kill multiple soldiers in lined up in a row or take down Jet Ski crafts.
There are two major uses you can get out of this magnificent weapon. The first one that comes in most people's mind is long range sniping and even camping a specific location. The M95's good long range statistics and very slow rate of fire makes it the camper's choice. Still, shooting and relocating are more than encouraged with this gun. Once a shot is made, it takes quite a while for your soldier to operate the bolt (not to mention if you have to reload). Unlike the M24 or the SV98, the M95 takes more time to get back on target. This gives an enemy sniper more time to shoot at you, while you are not zoomed in. This is why a good practice is if you suspect enemy sharpshooter activity, to take the 2.3 seconds used to operate the bold and move to the sides a bit. The slow reload results in a lot of off-scope time, so use that to relocate.
The second usage is close range annihilation. Yes, that's right! With up to 18 meters of one hit kill awesomeness and amazing accuracy, the M95 can be used to a great extent as a "shotgun". Just make sure you take a 3 second break after every encounter. Equip a red dot or a 4x Scope if you wish to explore this possibility, but don't be afraid to fire from the hip at this range. This can also be your last resort if someone tries to kill you from a short distance.
Since Magnum Ammo bonus is percentage based it is never a bad idea to equip it with a weapon that has a high damage by default. It will increase the OHK range beyond 20 meters and add a sufficient bonus to the damage at beyond 36 meter. It is an especially useful upgrade when fighting Body Armored soldiers.
Since this rifle has as much regular OHK range as other Magnum equipped rifles, another choice to consider would be to switch the Ammo upgrade for Body Armor. It will help you when dealing with "counter-snipers".
Equipping sniper rifles with a red dot is a common practice for many players who wish to use them at a closer range. With the M95, this is especially true since it can kill a man with one shot even at medium range. The Red Dot helps you see your surroundings better when aiming trough it, which in turn increases your accuracy.
Targeting The M95's scope is pretty awesome, because it has those dots which can help your aim and prediction at long ranges. But needless to say the rifle is extremely accurate when aiming trough the scope. The bullet travels fast and even at long distances you will only see small deviations from its path. My best advice is always aim for the head. Unless the target is a 100 meters away, this will almost always result in a head-shot. Keep in mind though, that unlike the GOL, the M95's scope image bobs up and down and you will need some time to position the shot.
When shooting at ultra long ranges it can become difficult to hit your mark instantly even if you are used to the M95's bullet drop. In most cases, a good practice (especially if you watched the Hurt Locker) is to firstly fire a leading shot, to determine how far is your target. Fire at the target, not above him, as in this way you will see where the bullet lands instead of it just flying above the enemy and god knows where.
Video Portrait
Role The M95 is a good accurate weapon for the ones with a lust for long range sniping. But with its slow rate of fire and small mag, it is not possible to put rapid long range suppression on a specific area. This is why one should pick it over other sniper rifles if the distance to the enemy lines is very long or he has a very nice sniping spot. When used at close range it is a magnificent one hit killer, but try not to get surrounded. If you want to rapidly exploit the sniper rifles' close range damage, choose ones with a higher rate of fire. In any case, the M95 has the highest chance to kill your foe with a single bullet than any weapon. Tired of hitting your targets and seeing them just walk away? The this rifle won't disappoint you (most of the time). It can also kill two guys standing one behind another with ease. Furthermore, those Marksman Headshot awards are much more easy to achieve with the M95. Use all of that to your advantage and make them fear you.