PPSh-41

The PPSh-41, officially designated the "Пистолет-пулемёт Шпагина" ("Pistolet-Pulemet Shpagina") is a submachine gun that was used by the Soviet Union during World War II. It was commonly nicknamed the "PaPaSha" or the "burp gun" due to its characteristic sound. It was created as an alternative to the PPD-40.

History
The PPSh-41 was designed by Georgii Shpagin as a gun replacement to the PPD-40, which was a more expensive and complex weapon to build. The PPSh-41 was first used in the Winter War, and later used during World War II against the German soldiers. Even after the end of World War 2, other Soviet Satellite States continued to manufacture and use the PPSh-41. There are several instances of Germans using captured PPSh-41s; some German armorers even rechambered the weapon to use 9mm Parabellum bullets and modified it to accept MP40 magazines.

Call of Duty 1 and United Offensive
The PPSh-41 has a relatively large magazine capacity of 71 rounds. The PPSh-41 can be switched between semi-automatic and automatic firing modes. The recoil is controllable, making it an effective weapon to use in general. Hip fire accuracy is reliable enough compared to using the iron sights.

Call of Duty 2
The PPSh-41 has been significantly changed compared to the Call of Duty 1 and Call of Duty: United Offensive edition. The recoil is less controllable, reducing its effectiveness to indoor combat. Switching between automatic and semi-automatic firing modes is no longer available.

Call of Duty: World at War
The PPSh-41 is unlocked at level 53 on the Multiplayer mode. This weapon has the highest rate of fire out of all the weapons in Call of Duty: World at War by a considerable margin (only the MG42 or FG42 come close; the PPSh-41 fires about as fast as either of them with Double Tap.) However, the PPSh-41 has extremely low damage, being the only gun that can take 3 direct hits to kill in Hardcore (all other guns are either 1 or 2). It is also the only gun incapable of getting a one shot kill in close range in Hardcore, unless Stopping Power is used or it is a headshot. The PPSh-41 in World at War features a muzzle break system which makes prolonged firing less accurate because of expelled gas obscuring one's vision. The gas expelling from the barrel of the gun is why a silencer would be impossible to employ. The PPSh-41 is said to be the P90 of Call of Duty: World at War because of its high rate of fire and large magazine. However, the Round Drum attachment for the PPSh-41 is needed to compensate for the high rate of fire and to simulate the P90's large magazine capacity. Also, the PPSh-41 fires much faster than the P90 and is much weaker per bullet.

Due to its high rate of fire, Stopping Power is relatively ineffective on the PPSh-41 because it only decreases the number of shots required for a kill by one. Inversely, the PPSh-41 is one of the only guns in the game that becomes noticeably better when Stopping Power is used in Hardcore, which makes it a 1-2 shot kill instead of a 2-3 shot kill. Unfortunately Double Tap, which should be extremely effective on the PPSh-41 due to its high rate of fire, low damage, and low recoil, does not increase its rate of fire and therefore has no effect. This is most likely because the PPSh-41 already fires faster than the original rate of fire cap of 1200 RPM. The iron sights are simple to use, even with the high rate of fire. The only problem is that the muzzle break expels gas, which can obscure the user's vision during prolonged firing. The iron sights are also not the best to use at long ranges, as they aren't accurate enough unless the player uses burst fire. The Aperture Sight raises the reticule further off the gun, which helps to prevent gas from obscuring the user's vision. Bandolier is highly recommended because the rate of fire will exhaust ammo quickly, even with the Round Drum attachment.

When using the Round Drum, it is important to avoid completely using an entire magazine, as this greatly increases the reload time.

Trivia

 * Although the PPSh-41 is almost always depicted in games and movies exclusively using 71-round drum magazines, Soviet troops usually carried only one drum magazine - which they would load in the weapon at the start of an engagement and discard once it was depleted - and several box magazines.


 * This gun is often likened to the P90 of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and is frowned upon as a "noob" gun; this comparison is odd, as the PPSh-41 is much weaker and fires much faster.


 * The PPSh-41 emits a unique sound when firing, thus giving a nickname of the weapon the "burp gun"; the first person perspective of the sound is always different than what everybody hears around you, and many distinct sounds of other guns can be heard easily such as the MG42, BAR, MP40, and the PPSh-41 which tend to stand out much more than other guns when they are fired.


 * The Soviet campaign features a PPSh-41 with a Round Drum that holds 71 bullets, as does the real life PPSh-41's round drum.