PPSh-41

The PPSh-41 is a submachine gun featured in all World War II-based Call of Duty games, excluding Call of Duty 3.

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: Finest Hour
In Finest Hour the PPSh is an effective weapon with a high recoil and low damage. It is difficult to see while using this weapon, as a burst of flame come out on all sides with each shot, making burst fire impossible to aim. It is still an effective SMG due to it's huge magazine capacity and high rate of fire, but ammo will be quickly eaten up. It can first be used in the level "The Flag must Fall."

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 greater, 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.

Players may face a dilemma when choosing between the PPSh-41 and the PPS-42, as the PPSh-41 has a larger magazine and double the power at longer ranges, but has much higher recoil and is less accurate than the PPS-42.

Singleplayer
The PPSh-41 appears in the Russian Campaign of World at War. In the earlier levels, very few can be found, although you can pick up ammo from fallen comrades. 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 fire up to 7 bullets at an enemy. Reznov uses this weapon, after the tip of his finger comes off.

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.

The PPSh-41 has equal viewkick values in all four directions, meaning that its recoil will usually be extremely low. The Aperture Sight raises the reticule away from the gun, which helps to prevent gas from obscuring the user's vision. The Bandolier perk 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. A common tactic with this gun is to combine the Round Drum with Bandolier, Stopping Power/Double Tap and Steady Aim and then firing from the hip, as it will then be even more devastating at close range. However, Double Tap is not recomended as the rate of fire on the PPSh-41 is already extremely high. Increasing it anymore would waste more ammo. Stopping Power is slightly more useful, but generally only causes a gun to kill in one less bullet. Due to the high rate of rife, one can fire off the extra shot without much hinderence time wise or accidentally fire it at a target after the target has been killed. Other secondary perks like Sleight Of Hand or Juggernaut may be more useful in core modes because it will take significantly more bullets for you to kill an enemy than for them to kill you, even when using stopping power, unless they also have the PPSh-41. Sleight of Hand will decrese the time one is vulnerable during reloads, even if one empties the magazine. Juggernaut will cancel out Stopping Power, which most players will use, and increase the chances of one's survival.

Nazi Zombies
The PPSh is first available in Verrückt and appears in all later maps. It is the only SMG which cannot be bought off the wall and is also the only SMG that appears with its drum magazine in Nazi Zombies. 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 mediocre damage per round, it is the perfect weapon for scoring lots of points. It is not advised to use this weapon with Double Tap. This will burn up the ammo quickly, so you may find yourself with no ammo for it in the middle of a round.

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. It has a vast increase in damage, doing more damage than the MG42 and M1919 Browning even if both are upgraded, and, as mentioned above, it has a magazine capacity that can rival a machine gun. But it still burns through ammo very quickly, unless the player has a back-up weapon they can use.

Call of Duty: World at War (Nintendo DS)
The PPSh-41 appears in Call of Duty: World at War (Nintendo DS) as one of the five SMG's available in game. The DS version has a much lower rate of fire and higher damage compared to the PPSh-41 on the console versions. It has high recoil, slightly more than the Thompson.

Singleplayer
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 at any range.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, the PPSh-41 is one of the most common weapons on multiplayer for the Allied faction. Just like in single player, the PPSh-41 has a high damage per bullet, a manageable rate of fire, and a large 71 round drum magazine. But the recoil is just as high as in single player, so it is recommended to burst fire or use it like it was semi-automatic at medium to long ranges. However, since the recoil only pushes the gun upwards, the recoil can be countered by aiming downwards when going full auto.

Call of Duty: Black Ops (Nintendo DS)
The PPSh-41 will appear in the DS version of the game. It has been spotted in a game screenshot.

Video
Video:PPsh-41 Montage

PPSh-41 gameplay in World at War

Trivia

 * The PPSh-41 is often called the "burp gun" when really that nickname was for the German MP40.
 * 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.
 * 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 where it is gold. This statue can also be seen in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer level Wasteland.
 * 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.
 * Because the rate of fire is so fast, using double tap will make the gun ineffective because some of the bullets don't read on the enemies body.
 * It is Nikolai Belinski's favorite weapon, as he uses it in the trailers for the last 2 Nazi Zombie maps. This is probably because the PPSh-41 is a Russian weapon.