PPSh-41



The PPSh-41, officially designated the "Пистолет-пулемёт Шпагина" ("Pistolet-Pulemyot Shpagina") is a submachine gun that was used by the Soviet Union during World War II. It was commonly nicknamed the "Pa-Pa-Sha" or the "Psht" due to its name. Another nickname, which is one of the most commonly used among Call of Duty fans is the "spam king", due to the rate of fire. It was created as an alternative to the PPD-40.

History
The PPSh-41 was designed by Georgi Shpagin as a replacement for the PPD-40, which was a more expensive and complex weapon to build. During the Winter War (Soviet war against Finland) The Finnish forces used an effective Suomi Kp/31 submachine gun. The design inspired the Soviets to create the PPD-40, which adopted the Suomi's 71 round Drum magazine and it also inspired the PPSh-41.The PPSh-41 was first used in World War II against the German Military. Even after the end of World War II, other Soviet Satellite States continued to manufacture and use the PPSh-41. There are several instances of Germans using captured PPSh-41s; designating unmodified PPSh-41's as MP717r's and supplying the users with ammunition normally used in the Mauser C96 pistol, and some German armorers even re-chambered the weapon to use 9mm Parabellum bullets and modified it to accept MP40 magazines, designating the weapons as MP41r's. This tradition of using converted PPSh-41's continues today, as a semi-automatic weapon in the exact same fashion as the MP41r was released in Germany in 2008.

Call of Duty 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 and Call of Duty: United Offensive edition. The recoil is stronger, though more predictable, reducing its effectiveness to indoor combat. Switching between automatic and semi-automatic firing modes is not available.

However, this does not stop people using it successfully at longer ranges, as the PPSH-41's recoil is much easier to control (strong upward push instead of random shaking). One can aim at the stomach of an enemy and fire a short burst. Normally all of the bullets will hit the enemy, killing him.

It has earned the ubiquitous title of the "king of spam", because it has the largest magazine out of all the guns, and the highest rate of fire.

Singleplayer
The PPSh-41 appears in the Russian Campaign of World at War. In the earlier levels, very few can be found; due to the high rate of fire it is recommended to swap the PPSh for another weapon. Later on in the Campaign it becomes much more common, as Russian soldiers start using the PPSh instead of the Mosin-Nagant, so ammo is much easier to find. This makes the PPSh an excellent weapon during the later stages of the campaign. Because the PPSh-41 has such low recoil, it has surprisingly good accuracy when hip firing, in close quarters this can be the difference between life and death as ADS takes precious seconds that could be used to spit up to 7 bullets at an enemy.

Multiplayer
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; they fire about as fast as it 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 features a muzzle brake 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 suppressor would be impossible to utilize. 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 or two, depending on range. 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.

The PPSh-41 has equal viewkick values in all four directions, meaning that its recoil will usually be extremely low. While using the iron sights of the PPSh-41, gas is expelled from the barrel directly into the view of the shooter, making it difficult to see while firing.The Aperture Sight raises the reticle away from the gun, which helps to prevent gas from obscuring the user's vision. Bandolier is highly recommended because the rate of fire will exhaust ammunition quickly, even with the Round Drum attachment, and because the PPSh only starts with two magazines, unlike other SMGs which start with three.

When using the Round Drum, it is important to avoid completely using an entire magazine, as this greatly increases the reload time. This can, however, be remedied by Reload Canceling right after the magazine is fully inserted.

Nazi Zombies
The PPSh is first available in Verrückt and appears in all later maps. It is the only Submachine Gun which cannot be bought of the wall. It is quite effective against Zombies and Hellhounds alike, even at higher levels. The only problem is the high ammo consumption; the PPSh can run dry after only a single round if not used wisely. Because of it's very high ROF and low damage per round, it is the perfect weapon for scoring lots of points.

If upgraded via the Pack-a-Punch Machine in Der Riese the gun is entitled "The Reaper" and has a magazine size of 115 which seems to rival that of a machine gun. This may be a reference to element 115, which is Ununpentium.

Call of Duty: World at War (Nintendo DS)
The PPSh in the DS game has a much lower rate of fire and higher damage compared to the PPSh on the console versions. It has somewhat high recoil, slightly more than the Thompson. It is considered by fans the equivalent of the MP40 in Call of Duty: World at War.

Single Player
In single player, the PPSh-41 is a starting weapon in all missions in the Russian Campaign, with the exception of vehicle levels. It has a large ammunition capacity (71 rounds, like the console versions), low rate of fire, and high damage per bullet. Overall it is an excellent weapon with only one flaw, high recoil, which would be fixed by burst firing or using it like a semi-auto gun, since it is capable of killing an enemy in 2-3 shots to the chest.

Multiplayer
The PPSh-41 is one of the most common weapons on multiplayer, since the ROF (rate of fire) for all weapons is increased, while having the same recoil in single player. Unlike the console versions, the PPSh starts out with a round drum by default, since there were no attachments on DS at that time. The high damage, high ammo capacity and a higher rate of fire makes this an excellent weapon.

Video
Video:PPsh-41 Montage

Trivia

 * In multiplayer, it is sometimes referred to by its users affectionately, and by its victims with contempt, as the "bullet hose" for its viciously high rate of fire, it having the highest rate of fire of any standard weapon in the Call of Duty series.
 * The PPSh-41 is often called the "burp gun" when really that nickname was for the German MP40.
 * PPSh-41 was the most produced submachine gun of World War II with over 6 million produced.
 * The Soviet campaigns feature a PPSh-41 with a Round Drum with a capacity of 71 cartridges, the same as in real life.
 * In World at War, the player holds the PPSh-41 by the section behind the magazine, which in World at War is much longer than it is in real life, but in the first and second games, they hold it by the magazine.
 * In the singleplayer campaign of Call of Duty: World at War, every PPSh-41 has a drum magazine. A player will never see one with it's rectangular ammo clip like in multiplayer.
 * In the Call of Duty 4 level One Shot, One Kill, a large statue is seen carrying a PPSh-41. The same statue can be seen in the multiplayer map Bloc. This statue can also be seen in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer level Wasteland.
 * Though the drum magazine is something that the user must unlock in multiplayer, during the weapons use by the Red Army, the standard soldier would start with a drum magazine, and switch to the box magazine when they ran out of ammo.
 * Similar to some types of Thompson as any soldier using a M1928A1 could use a drum or the box mags.
 * Although in United Offensive it is only seen with a drum magazine, when the main menu is loaded with the Soviet Theme, a PPSh with a standard magazine is shown.
 * The World At War PPSh appears to have switched its rate of fire with the MG42.
 * Unlike in real life, the PPSh-41 ejecting shell up right at the iron sight, the weapon seems to be a quite accurate weapon in the game.
 * The 7.62x25mm Tokarev round the PPSh was using were actually quite powerful, roughly on par with the .45ACP in terms of kinetic energy, surpassing it in penetration where it could penetrate a Level II vest at close range whilst the .45 cannot, but somewhat slightly lower stopping power due to the 7.62 round used.
 * The P90 in Modern Warfare 2 has been compared to the PPSh-41.
 * The PPSh is often called the "P-Push" by the users, hence the name.