Part 3

Understanding Bullet Drop: Bullets in Battlefield Hardline experience drop over distance. For example, a bullet might travel 200 meters in 0.67 seconds and drop 3.3 meters. To compensate, you can fire a test shot at a wall at the same distance and observe the impact point. If it lands 1.5cm below your crosshairs, aim 1.5cm higher for your next shot. With practice, you can estimate distances by how large enemies appear in your scope and compare them to your scope reticle. Unlike some other games, Battlefield Hardline does not have a range-finder attachment or Portable Laser Designator (PLD) gadget. However, you can use the distance to nearby objective markers as an approximate range.

Using Zeroing: Sniper rifles in Battlefield Hardline allow you to adjust the zeroing setting to compensate for bullet drop at specific distances. Press the down D-pad (or V by default on PC) to cycle through available zeroing settings: 0m, 200m, 300m, 400m, 500m, and 1,000m. These settings are displayed on the prompt at the bottom of your screen. Zeroing ensures that your bullet impact point matches your aim point at the selected distance. At ranges longer than your zeroing setting, you will still experience bullet drop. At shorter ranges, your rounds will hit above your crosshairs. If your target is between zeroing settings, such as 250m, you can either zero for 200m and aim high, or zero for 300m and aim low.

Understanding Fire Rate: The fire rate of a weapon is given in rounds per minute (RPM) and indicates how quickly a weapon can fire successive rounds. Each firearm has up to three fire modes: single, burst, and auto. These are indicated by bullet icons next to your ammo counters in the bottom-right corner of the screen and on the D-pad prompt. Tap the down D-pad (or V on PC) to switch between fire modes. Single fire mode fires one round per trigger pull. Burst fire mode fires two or three rounds per trigger pull. Auto fire mode fires continuously when the trigger is held. When you respawn (reappear after dying) after dying, your weapon's fire mode remains unchanged. For automatic weapons, the fire rate shown is for full auto. For semi-auto, pump-action, or bolt-action weapons, it's the maximum achievable rate for successive single shots. Battlefield Hardline does not have primary weapons with burst mode instead of full auto, but some weapons like the G36C, UMP45, MP5K, and HK51 have a burst option. In automatic mode, you can use "tapfire" (tapping R2) to simulate a burst effect if your weapon lacks a burst mode or if you prefer not to change the fire mode. Firing consecutive short bursts is more accurate than sustained fire because it allows your spread and recoil to reset. The fire rate is crucial in close-quarters combat, but at medium and longer ranges, a slower weapon with less recoil might be more effective.

Understanding Muzzle Velocity: Muzzle velocity is the speed at which bullets leave the barrel, measured in meters per second (m/s). For example, at 600 m/s, it takes a quarter of a second for bullets to travel 150 meters. To hit a moving target, you need to "lead" them, aiming in front of their path so they move into your bullet's trajectory.