RPK

The RPK is a light machine gun that appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
The RPK was first seen in the reveal trailer for the game. In-game screenshots appear to show that the weapon uses a forty round magazine and an unusable bipod. It was then seen twice in the Wager Match trailer, once with an Infrared Scope and again with a Red Dot Sight, and with high amounts of recoil.

Single Player
The RPK is found in the missions Operation 40, S.O.G, The Defector, Victor Charlie, Payback, and Redemption. It is quite accurate, and deals significant damage (Enough to gib enemies). It can be found with an ACOG sight, Drum Mags, Dual Mags, and an Infrared Scope.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, the RPK is unlocked at level 6, and features good stats overall. The RPK has no damage drop-off, achieving kills in 3 hits at any range (or 2 with a headshot). The RPK's main drawback is its high recoil which is almost entirely horizontal. To combat this recoil, those using the RPK will have to fire in burst or in semi-auto at most ranges to remain effective. The Dual Mags or Extended Mags attachments are good choices as the gun's 40 round magazine will empty quickly and the reload animation is quite slow. Using the Extended Mags gives the player an 80 round drum that reloads as fast as a normal box magazine. It should be noted that unlike other weapons, the Dual Mags attachment does not grant extra reserve ammo; because of this, Extended Mags is recommended over Dual Mags, as while Dual Mags gives a faster reload after 40 rounds, Extended Mags completely eliminates the need to reload after 40 shots altogether. The RPK, despite being a light machine gun, can hold its own in close quarters due to having good hipfire accuracy for its class.

The usual assortment of sights and scopes are available for the RPK. While the Red Dot Sight and Reflex Sight behave no differently than the iron sights, the ACOG Scope and Infrared Scope are not recommended, as the high recoil is magnified to extreme levels; the weapon is pratically unusable with the Infrared Scope.

Overall, the gun is comparable to the HK21: while both guns sport the same damage and RPM, the HK21 has has a lower recoil and a smaller magazine, while the RPK has better hipfire accuracy and a larger magazine. Thus, for long range fighting and individual target acquisition the HK21 is better, while for closer ranges and sustained suppressive fire the RPK is stronger.

When Extended Mags are used, the RPK can also be compared to the M60, especially when Extended Mags is equipped, as an effective suppressive fire weapon. While the M60 sports lower recoil (much lower with a Grip) and higher damage at close range, the RPK has a much better RPM and hipfire spread.

Attachments

 * Suppressor (Campaign only)
 * Infrared Scope
 * Red Dot Sight
 * Dual Magazines
 * Extended Mags (Drum Mag)
 * ACOG Scope
 * Reflex Sight

Zombies
The RPK can only be found in the Mystery Box and supports a 100 round magazine. For the most part, it is quite similar to the HK21, however it trades a higher rate of fire for a slightly smaller magazine.

Speed Cola is necessary if the player chooses to keep this gun due to the slow reload time. Juggernog can be quite helpful when stuck in a corner with RPK's slow reload, paired with several zombies attacking makes Juggernog crucial for survival. Double Tap (if the player can control the gun) is helpful but will cause bad accuracy from firing and mostly needs to be shot like the M16 for better accuracy if the player has Double Tap Root Beer.

The Pack-a-Punched version of this weapon is called the R115 Resonator. When upgraded, its round capacity is bolstered to 125 per magazine with 500 extra rounds and becomes more powerful.

Gallery
For Camouflage images, click here.

Video
RPK Overview|300px|left|thumb

Trivia

 * The player actually throws the magazine up and catches it to reload, thus lengthening what would've been a short reload time to balance it as an LMG.
 * When a camouflage pattern is equipped on the RPK, the handguard doesn't change color, except when gold is applied, where the handguard turns black.
 * Contrary to popular belief, the RPK is not related to RPD seen in the Modern Warfare games, despite their somewhat similar look and very similar names. The only traits they share is that they both are made in the Soviet Union, and that they both are light machine guns.
 * The RPK in singleplayer and Zombies has significantly less recoil than its multiplayer counterpart, presumably for balancing reasons.
 * It has the same bipod model as the M1919 found in World at War.
 * Similar to the HK21, in Zombies, the RPK uses a much higher magazine capacity at 100 rounds, whereas in multiplayer, the capacity is only 40. This is due to balancing reasons.
 * In Zombies, the RPK uses a curved magazine, where a Drum Mag would be necessary as 100 (or 125 when upgraded) rounds couldn't fit into a curved one. This is because the weapon's default version is used.
 * When a sight is attached, the rear iron sights are completely removed.
 * When the RPK is fired, empty casing as well as belt clips are ejected, similar to the belt-fed weapons like the M60, despite the fact that the RPK uses magazines.
 * The Red Dot Sight on the RPK features a square lens, similar to the Red Dot Sight in Modern Warfare 2. This also applies to the other Soviet weapons, the AK-47 and the AK-74u.