With a total of 19 games in the mainline Call of Duty series, fans have seen some of the most overpowered weapons come and go. More often than not, when a new title launches, it has a few weapons that need a little bit of tweaking. But pre-patches, there have been some absolutely ridiculous weapons in Call of Duty history.

We thought we'd celebrate the release of Call of Duty: Vanguard by taking a trip down memory lane and remembering some of the most overpowered weapons in the previous Call of Duty games.

Before we jump in, it's important to note that a lot of weapons mentioned in this list aren't that overpowered anymore as the developers were quick to patch them. However, pre-patch, the following weapons were absolute beasts.

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5. MP40 (World At War)

The MP40 SMG has always been a solid weapon choice in every Call of Duty game its featured in. Even most recently in Call of Duty: Vanguard, along with the STG44, the MP40 appears to be the most used weapon in Multiplayer right now.

But back in the OG days of World At War, the MP40 was ridiculously overpowered. It didn't offer a great rate of fire but made up for it with high damage output. The hip-fire accuracy was also amazing on this SMG, meaning that if you were in close range, you probably didn't even need to aim down sight.

4. M16A4 (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare)

Before the MP40 was causing havoc in World At War, the M16A4 made its name by being the most overpowered three-round burst rifle in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Three round burst rifles aren't always for everybody, but the M16A4 was by far one of the most popular guns in the original Modern Warfare. Not only was it unlocked immediately, but it also boasted pretty much no recoil and if you hit all of your shots, it was a one burst kill weapon.

3. BAL-27 (Advanced Warfare)

Now we're jumping far into the future with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and like many of the weapons on this list, the BAL-27 was disgustingly good until it received a much-needed patch.

Not only was the base weapon enough to be the meta, but Advanced Warfare also featured 'variants' of every weapon. The most notably overpowered one was the BAL-27 Obsidian Steed. It had a high rate of fire with practically no recoil, which is exactly what you need in a Call of Duty game that has enemies flying all over the place.

2. ACR (Modern Warfare 2)

When it comes to ease of use, it doesn't get much easier than the ACR, the classic Assault Rifle from Modern Warfare 2. It was a fan favourite that of course had practically no recoil, which meant it could quickly destroy enemies at mid to long-range.

Paired up with a simple red dot sight, the ACR could easily take out enemies at incredibly long ranges. However, to balance the practically zero recoil, it was one of the slowest firing assault rifles in the game. But nevertheless, it dominated Modern Warfare 2 lobbies for quite some time.

1. Model 1887 Akimbo (Modern Warfare 2)

Finally, we have the Model 1887 Shotgun, Akimbo, of course. It simply just doesn't get any more broken than this classic shotgun.

Before they were patched, using the 1887 with the Akimbo attachment was just damn right unfair. They had ridiculous range and combine it with Marathon, Stopping Power, and Steady Aim and you were practically invincible.