When you consider the other available weaponry, and the strength of the enemies you'll fight, it's not at all a good weapon to use in battle, but it's still important in battle, it's needed to cut yourself out of nets from the Predator's Netgun.

A rather aged weapon used often and carried by all Marines, the M4A3 is mainly used against human targets or aliens without a hard exoskeletal armor. The range is approximately 1500 meters, but its maximum effective range is 50 meters. It is rarely used against a xenomorph threat.

These rapid fire guns are the norm for the Colonial Marines during their missions. The occasion is rare when a Marine does not carry one of these into battle. This gun is rapid fire and holds 99 M309 rounds per magazine. It becomes very easy to run out of ammunition when using these. Also incorporated into this weapon is a PN 30-mm hand pump grenade launcher, which almost always is armed with M40 High Explosive fragmentation rounds, which have an effective range of 400 meters.

Flares are used to light-up a certain area. It's a common tactic for Colonial Marines to shoot Flares away from them to lure their opponents just where they want them. Flares will block out all of the pheromones that you give out.