The Assault Rifles are the best all around set of guns in the game. They have the largest set of variety, play style weapons, and one of the best all around single guns in the game (M416). Kurgan is right that loses power rather fast, so long ranged fire fights is a bad idea. It is a gun good in all categories though. It is not bad at long ranged, just average. It excels at close range due to low recoil and high fire rate, but can also hold its own at mid range because of rather high damage and low recoil. Did I mention the really low recoil?
Anyway, no matter how you like to play, Assault class has a little somethin' somthin' for you.
And speaking of pointless Magnum use.....why do I see people wasting that slot on this in Hardcore? It is so pointless. Especially all the "snipers" (and I use that term loosely) with M95 and magnum ammo. In fact, I will just say it. If you use Magnum ammo and an M95 in Hardcore mode, you are so far from both a Sniper and useful as you can possible be. Besides, the class is called RECON not Sniper you CoD tard.
Edit:
Recon in Normal mode: Use the SVU or GOL. Stick and move. Use sniper rifle to scan area of enemies why your squad moves in. Throw spot ball before hand if you are close enough. Once they take the area, kill that 1 hiding coward before people spawn on him, then move in with team.
Sniper in Normal mode: Only and I mean only use as Defense in Rush or support style in Squad Deathmatch. Support style means, you are the UAV and spot the soldiers. Only engage people when your team is providing cross fire or the soldier is alone.
Recon in Hardcore: Now you get to have some fun. I say stick with SVU or VSS for close ranged combat. Use these if you like to attack flags. Never go straight in. Stick to ambush tactics. This tends to work on Attack better than Defense and doing this while defending will leave you out of position if someone gets by. Magnum ammo can help, but so can everything else can as well so try other stuff out and see what works for you. I use body armor in this case to help protect me against noob tubes that don't land right on me and pistol fights.
Sniper in Hardcore: Stick with the GOL or SV98. 1 hit in center mass will kill a man. Use this for killing moving targets. Get your headshots on the stationary targets. Magnum ammo is simply not needed. Go with explosive damage to up the mortar strike or C4 for other tactics. I use it to flush people into the open, pin groups in corners for squad while they are moving in, or killing vehicles. This works best defending in Rush and deathmatch, but can be helpful in other modes if you pick your targets well and not worry about having the most kills.
