M4 carbine

The M4 Carbine is a firearm tracing its origins to a variant of the CAR-15 which is based on the M16 and all based on the original AR-15 made by ArmaLite. It is a shorter and lighter version of the M16A2, with 80% parts commonality with the M16A2. The M4A1 has selective fire options including semi-automatic and full-auto. It fires the 5.56x45mm NATO round, and is suitable for C.Q.C. Although the M4 has less effective range than the longer M16, many military analysts consider engagement with a non-specialized small arm above a range of 300 meters (330 yd) to be unnecessary. It is effective at ranges of 150 meters (160 yd) or less and has a maximum effective range of about 500 to 600 meters (550–660 yd).

Battlefield 2
"The M4 is a lightweight version of the M16 and fires the same type of ammunition. It has similar handling and accuracy but does less damage. It comes equipped with a red-dot scope."

- In-game description

The M4 Carbine is the standard primary weapon in Battlefield 2 and is issued to the USMC's Special Forces kit. The M4 possesses a Red Dot Sight. It is statistically very similar to the other carbines, with a higher recoil than, but identical spread and damage to, the G36C, yet less damage than the AK-74u.

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
The Colt M4 Carbine is a weapon featured in Battlefield 2: Modern Combat.

Singleplayer
The M4 Carbine is issued to NATO assault-class soldiers during Radio Silence. It has a moderate rate of fire, a 30 round magazine, high damage and good accuracy.

It can kill in a single head shot and is effective as a sharpshooting weapon with its magnified M68 Aimpoint sight. It also has an M203 attached to it, though it is unusable until you unlock it. Blind firing for head shots and the grenade launcher can easily dispose of a large amount of enemies.

Multiplayer
The M4 Carbine is issued to the USMC Assault kit and can be used similarly to how it's used in singleplayer.

Battlefield Play4Free
The M4A1 is a weapon featured in Battlefield Play4Free and is a purchasable elite assault rifle for the Assault Kit. It features high damage and a 20-round magazine. However, the weapon suffers from a decreased range and a more moderate recoil, as well as a cost of up to 1249 for unlimited use. The weapon's extra magazine and decent damage make it excel at close-range infantry-based maps like Sharqi and Basra, but it's still efficient on longer range maps like Karkand.

M4A1
"Essentially a shortened version of the M16, the M4A1 Carbine traces its roots to weapons designed for US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) during the Vietnam War. The M4A1 variant is capable of Automatic fire and includes rails that allow the user to equip a large number of accessories. The carbine has seen heavy use at the frontlines of Iraq and Afghanistan in close quarters and urban environments."

- Battlelog description

The M4A1 is a weapon featured in Battlefield 3. It was first seen in the Fault Line Trailer.

Singleplayer
The M4A1 is Blackburn's primary weapon in Operation Swordbreaker and in the second half of Operation Guillotine. It is also Miller's primary weapon in Thunder Run when on foot. Campo had used the M4A1 throughout the campaign. Cole is always equipped with the M4A1. Blackburn, Campo, and Miller have used the M4A1 with a Holographic Sight. Blackburn and Cole have used the M4A1 with an ACOG sight.

Co-Op
The M4A1 is Player 1's primary weapon in Exfiltration. It is also the primary weapon for both players in The Eleventh Hour.

Multiplayer
The M4A1 is the default carbine for the United States Marine Corps Engineer kit. It is capable of fully-automatic or semi-automatic fire, has low recoil, making it very accurate at medium and short ranges. It can do a fairly high amount of damage due to its fast firing speed.

The weapon's main strength is its very high rate of fire which is one of the fastest of all carbines, but it is also one of its weaknesses as the rate of fire is so fast that it's hard to actually fire the gun in controlled bursts, as it might make you accidentally fire an extra round or two which by then the recoil already kicked the weapon out of aim so more ammo may be wasted and many shots may miss.

The M4A1 and AKS-74u are the last Engineer unlocks for 145,000 points which allows the player to have the weapon from the other faction, allowing USMC Engineers to use the AKS-74u and Russian Ground Forces Engineers to use the M4A1.

M4 Carbine
"Visually and mechanically similar to the M16, the M4 Carbine was developed to replace pistols and sub-machine guns at the front lines. The M4 is capable Semi-Automatic and 3 Round Burst fire and is equipped with accessory rails for end user customization. The rifle has largely replaced the M16A2 previously in use by the US Marine Corps."

- Battlelog description.

The M4 is a weapon featured in Battlefield 3 and is unlocked upon obtaining a 40,000 Engineer score. It has the same stats as the M4A1, but fires in either three-rounds burst or semi-automatic. After a recent patch, the M4 has more vertical recoil and less horizontal recoil than the M4A1. The M4 can be used by both factions and share its unlocks with the M4A1.

One thing to notice, is that the M4 has a much tighter bullet spread than it's automatic counterpart. While not significantly important within burstfire ranges, it can be useful on larger maps where semi automatic fire can be required. In addition, when a heavy barrel is added, the M4 is the most accurate carbine, beating both the SCAR-H and ACW-R.

Battlefield 4
The M4 is an unlockable Carbine in Battlefield 4. Unlike Battlefield 3, only the burst-fire M4 is available, with the fully-automatic M4A1 excluded. It kicks to the right making a compensator useful when using consecutive bursts.

Trivia
Battlefield 3= Battlefield: Bad Company 2= Battlefield 2=
 * In the Pre-Alpha stages of Battlefield 3, as seen in the Fault Line trailers, the M4A1's appearance was that of Medal of Honor's M4A1 multiplayer model, which DICE helped develop.
 * In the Pre-Alpha the player pulled the charging handle of the M4A1 rather than hitting the bolt release in the Retail.
 * The M4A1 has Magpul Ranger Plates on the bottom of its STANAG Magazine.
 * The M4A1 reload animation has slightly changed in full release.
 * There was a glitch that, once the M4A1 Russian Acquired version was unlocked, the AKS-74u and M4A1 would stay faction specific and the player would have to keep switching back and forth if they wanted to keep using one or the other. DICE has fixed this bug in the 1.04 patch.
 * While using the M4A1 as a Russian, the meter below the ammo counter doesn't show how far you are from unlocking another attachment. This applies to all faction-specific weapons acquired by the other faction.
 * The M4A1 is actually painted with a tan camouflage in the game. It is noticeable in bright environments, but when there is shade, it looks like the blackish-grey color seen in almost every other picture of it.
 * In Battlefield 3 the M16A3/A4 shares the same RIS as the M4/M4A1.
 * The M4A1 in Battlefield 3 has a Snake design on the magazine well as in the Medal of Honor version, of which DICE helped develop the game's multiplayer.
 * It has the same reload animation as the ACW-R and Mk11 Mod 0.
 * The proficiency dog tag shows the M4A1 with an ACOG and Foregrip equipped.
 * Despite not appearing in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the soldier on the cover art uses a highly customized M4/M4A1.
 * If a player uses the console command, the M4's Aimpoint M2 Sight disappears.
 * The model of the M4 has several issues. The lower receiver has printed on it "M16 A2" instead of M4, and the fire selector switch is set to "semi".