CoD MW3: How to Carry Two Primary Weapons

The words are immortal: “Switching to your sidearm is always faster than reloading.” But if you want to have some extra firepower in your back pocket in Modern Warfare 3, you’ll need to know how to carry two primary weapons in CoD MW3.

How to Carry Two Primary Weapons in CoD MW3

The ability to equip two primary weapons has been available in almost every Call of Duty game, and there are actually more ways to do it in Modern Warfare 3 than in previous titles. There are no “perks” in the game — by name, anyway — but you can equip gear instead.

• The two pieces of gear that allow you to equip two primaries are the Gunner Vest and the Overkill Vest.

You can select which vest you want to equip when customizing your loadout. The Vest selection is above the main weapon, equipment, and gear selection screen. Which vest you choose depends on what other parts of your setup you want to run.

Gunner Vest Pros and Cons

The Gunner Vest is for players who want to rarely worry about ammo and enjoy going fast at all times. With this vest equipped, you’ll spawn with full ammo reserves — the maximum amount you can hold. If you’re using a weapon that usually has 90 rounds in reserve, you’ll instead enter matches with 180, and so on. You’ll also gain the benefits of the Mag Hoster equipment, increasing your reload speed.

There’s a catch, though. Using the Gunner Vest removes your ability to equip any Boots, meaning silenced footsteps, improved sliding, and other bonuses are lost to you. Should you equip both the Mag Holster and the Gunner vest simultaneously, you’ll only gain the reload speed benefit from one. The other will be replaced with a Mission Control Comlink, decreasing what it takes to earn your killstreaks.

Overkill Vest Pros and Cons

Your other option to use two Primary Weapons is the Overkill Vest. Super creative, I know, especially considering Overkill has long been a perk name that gave you two primaries as an option. With the Overkill Vest equipped, you not only have two primary weapons available to you, but you also swap weapons faster and can reload while sprinting.

There’s a sacrifice with the Overkill Vest, as well. You lose your Field Upgrade, so depending on which you’re using, you may need to equip Scavenger Gloves or some other piece of gear to make up for it. Should you have either the Quick-Grip or Commando Gloves equipped, the effect of either will be negated, and you’ll gain the benefit of Marksman Gloves instead.

Which Vest is Better for Carrying Two Primaries in Modern Warfare 3?

Between the two, I see myself using Overkill more — if I’m using it at all. Giving up that perk slot is asking a lot, and I’d rather have a full suite of equipment without a Field Upgrade than sacrifice a more powerful benefit. I almost always run Scavenger anyway, so ammo is almost never a problem.

That’s how to carry two primary weapons in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. If you tend to go on long kill streaks or want to always have a second weapon to level during a match, it’s nice to have the option. For more on the game, check out our guides on how to play split-screen multiplayer, the complete multiplayer maps list, and more in our CoD MW3 guides hub.