PTRD-41

{{Gun
 * id=34
 * History=In 1939, the Soviets captured a polish AT rifle which proved effective when used against the German Invasion of Poland. Vasily Degtyaryov (The designer of several Soviet weapons, such as the PPD-40 and DP-28) copied various functions of both the Panzerbuchse 38 (German equivalent) and the Model 35 (Polish version).

The only downsides of this weapon were its size (weighing more than 17 kg without ammunition) and its massive muzzle blast. This round was able to penetrate 40mm of armor at a distance of 100m, although it suffered issues with its tungsten-cored ammunition simply shattering on occasion due to the extreme impact from its obscene 3,320 feet per second muzzle velocity. While the PTRD was typically utilized in two-man crews (a loader and a gunner), it could be easily operated by a single man under the presumption that he wouldn't need to move very far with the gun's excessive weight.


 * Gameplay=The PTRD is the longest, highest-caliber bullet-type weapon Infantry can carry. With its monstrous 14.5x114mm cartridge, it can one-hit-kill any infantry target, regardless of impact location, as well as penetrate armor to damage vehicles. The PTRD best serves in conjunction with Infantry First badge, unlocked via the Driver ribbon. The PTRD sports a 100% penetration chance of 25mm thickness with stock ammunition, tapering off to a 0% chance to penetrate at 40mm; This can be increased to 100% chance at 30 and 35mm using Leonov Monstr and Leonov Bronya MAX ammunition, respectively (Additionally, both ammunition types increase the 0% penetration chance to 45mm).

Dealing 375 damage per shot at close range with standard ammunition and no badges. On the other hand, Leonov Bronya MAX, dealing around 400-450 damage per hit. Leonov Monstr, on the other hand, acts similarly to standard ammunition with the addition of the Steel Barrel it has no reduction in accuracy*, making it the de facto long-range ammunition for hunting tanks and planes.

One of the key roles the PTRD fills is as an anti-air solution -- where other factions must tote around large, slow vehicles to mobilize their anti-air solutions, a Soviet well-versed with the PTRD can effectively dominate the airspace, keeping an extremely low profile that can be hard for enemy pilots to find and dispose of. The PTRD can kill enemy fighters in three to four direct hits without ammunition upgrades. Due to the nature of fighting planes involving extreme distances, accuracy and range are suggested over raw alpha damage; Use Leonov Monstr, Match Sights, and Stainless Steel Barrel to maximize your plane-damaging potential.

While the PTRD can equip a heavy spring and a trigger modification, both are relatively useless and raise the cost of operating the weapon; technically, the Field Trigger Job DOES decrease the time it takes for the firing animation to occur, but the results are negligibly small. Earlier, I mentioned that the Leonov Monstr ammunition has no effect on the PTRD's accuracy, but this is only partially true. While it does not affect the dispersion of the projectiles at range, it changes the point-of-aim in relation to the iron sights, as indicated by the "recoil" graph in the loadout screen (It is assumed that the point-of-aim is in the center of the graph -- your bullets will be going slightly higher than previously). This is where the Heavy Spring can come into play. Because it does not affect the rate of fire (due to the single-shot nature of the gun), the Heavy Spring can be used to bring the point-of-aim back to true. However, because the gun's accuracy results will be consistent either way, it is easier and cheaper to simply adjust your habits when using the gun to account for the shifted point of aim (usually, down and to the left of your target by some slight distance).

DRAWBACKS:

The PTRD suffers from a number of drawbacks, despite all the good things there are to be said about it -- namely, rate of fire, lack of hipfire, low total ammo, weapon sway, and time to aim and inaccurate shots. Also, your bullet won't go where you put your iron sights on. It has small circular base cone of fire around it which makes accurate aiming at ranges more than 25m up to luck.

The PTRD suffers from a 4.3 second reload, which effectively limits its rate of fire to just above 10 rounds per minute. This can be negated with Fast Reload, which can bring its reload time down to 3.01 seconds (or an increase to 13.45 rounds per minute). However, unless the user is a Veteran and wishes to forgo other useful second badges such as Marathon Man, Heavy Set, or Hoarder Gold (for carrying a handgun + knife or handgun + binocs. This will be explained later), Infantry First Gold will always be advised as the go-to badge for locking down corridors of advancing infantry vehicles. A handgun such as the TT-33 is advised for dealing with close-quarters infantry, because of its faster reload, higher rate of fire, and additional bullet per magazine compared to the M1895 Nagant (which allows it to benefit more from Hoarder, as well).

Another viable practice with the PTRD is snap-shotting; the process of firing before the gun is properly shouldered, overcoming its inability to hipfire. Snapshotting with the PTRD is rather simple; simply pull the trigger any time after the midpoint of the weapon-shouldering animation, and the gun will fire it's projectile roughly where the ironsights WOULD be if the gun had been properly shouldered (even if it isn't there yet). While the point of aim isn't always completely accurate, it can be an effective combo-opener before switching to your handgun, in an attempt to end the gunfight with a close target before it starts. This also works well to overcome the PTRD's long shouldering animation, compared to most other weapons such as handguns and submachine guns.

Weapon sway of the PTRD can effectively be countered by going prone before firing (which is mostly broken, as of the Garman build), and using Marathon Man. While the user will often have to reposition himself to have a good viewing angle on his targets, using Marathon Man will limit how much of his stamina he spends re-positioning, and thus will decrease the gun's weapon sway when he stops running to aim and fire. First Blood also works similarly, but will be quickly outclassed by Marathon Man by a large margin by the time the user unlocks the PTRD (unless he or she is a wallet warrior).

As a rule of thumb, the PTRD should ALWAYS be used with two ammo bags. Being your primary weapon, only having ten rounds will keep the user feeling extremely limited in their offensive capability, as well as tethered to ammo boxes that may be too exposed to reach thanks to enemy snipers. 19 total rounds from two ammo bags will curb this constant need for ammo, although for personal use it is advised to carry ammunition boxes on your vehicle if you plan to stake out in the boonies to shoot aircraft (please don't be a bush fairy if you aren't being useful, though).

LEADING TARGETS:

To properly lead aircraft with the gun, refer to parts of the gun to "measure" your lead on the target. For close targets, hardly any lead is necessary -- just let the rifle's absurd bullet velocity do the work for you (this can vary slightly based on server ping and type of target I.E. trying to catch a plane diving at full speed on a 140-ping server will require more lead than an identical target on a 20-ping server, because the section of the plane that you can hit and get the shot to register grows smaller and smaller toward the front of the plane. This effect is most visible shooting planes with tank shells, where slower-velocity shells impacting the rear of a plane will often simply fail to register server-side, despite causing an explosion animation that indicated an impact client-side). As for distant, fast targets such as planes at render distance, look to the cylindrical pin running through the middle of the rear iron sight of the gun. Using this pin length as a radius around the tip of your front sight, your leading distance should almost never leave this circle except in the most extreme cases (dive-bombing targets at render distance, for example, may exceed this radius). For general use, your lead distance will usually fall within a half-pin radius of your target (I.E planes climbing out of a dive, level at cruising speed, etc). If the aircraft is going overhead and you are under no time constraints such as moving out of the line of enemy fire, consider waiting until the target is overhead or headed away from you; this will allow you to keep your target unobstructed by your large iron sights, making leading significantly easier.

I would recommend buying the PTRD with credits and not gold. It is quite lackluster for its price. Buy a MG or SMG before you get the PTRD you can get it after you are done grinding most of the Russian tree.

SUGGESTED BADGES:

Infantry First/Iron Fist: All other badges should come secondary to one of these ones, once the user has I.F. at gold rank.

Fast Reload: A good secondary badge, increasing the PTRD's RoF by a few rounds per minute. Also will assist in keeping your handgun up and running for close-quarters defense.

Marathon Man: Typically overlooked, Marathon Man effectively limits the PTRD's weapon sway to its base value, thanks to the increased stamina recovery (currently the only mechanic that still uses stamina). This is my personal pick, due to how often I need to reposition myself to engage aircraft or take shelter from said aircraft.

Heavy Set: Another no-brainer due to the prolific use of OHK bolt actions, Heavy Set will keep you alive long enough to get your shot off or switch to handgun and engage close targets.

Hoarder: While the PTRD only gains one round per "magazine" given by Hoarder badge (raising the max ammo capacity of the PTRD from 19 to 22), Hoarder will allow you to retain a decent ammo count on your sidearm of choice if you are packing binocs.

TIPS:
Overall it is a fun weapon and a rarity on the battlefield but by no means does that mean it is good. It has its uses but they can be easily outclassed by Bazookas,H3s and MGs. It is recommended that you leave the PTRD for last. Buy other things you need such as a DP 28 or PPS-43.

Even if you still want the PTRD buy it with credits and take your time getting it unless you have the spare cash go ahead.

A word of warning this gun is mostly up to luck at ranges such as past 15m. It will be harder to hit your targets for the fact that the bullet does not go directly under the iron sights. It has a circle around the iron sights that will judge where your bullet will go. Remember this is not as good as it use to be. If you do think that it is OP take the time to grind it out and then buy it after that. You will see its problems.

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