GP37

The Heckler & Koch G36, called GP37 in-game, is a 5.56mm assault rifle, featured in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.

Background

It was designed in the early 1990s by German firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. The G36 chambers by default NATO Standard 5.56x45mm ammunition of varying types. The G36 is considered to be the successor of the G3 and is standard issue to the German Bundeswehr and the Spanish armed forces as well as being a fine example of modern assault rifles.

Overview

By default, the weapon weighs 3.6 kg unloaded and features a 30-round magazine. Unlike other assault rifles (aside from the FT-200m), the G36 features an integrated scope with 1.8x magnification instead of iron sights, allowing it to fill in for assault and sniper roles with excellent efficiency. The weapon comes in with 3 firing modes: single shot, 3-shot burst and full auto. The optical sight reticule pattern is identical with the FN F2000 reticule pattern. The weapon cannot be mounted with a grenade launcher by default, and also cannot use a silencer by default, except for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky.

Overall it is one of the best rifles that may be found in the Zone, sometimes used by faction experts.

Appearances

Shadow of Chernobyl

It has above-average accuracy, and has medium to low recoil, making its scope very useful. The weapon can mount neither a silencer nor the M203 Grenade Launcher.

Notable deployments

The GP-37 is commonly used by Freedom and Monolith experts based in the Army Warehouses, Red Forest, Pripyat and on the outskirts of the Chernobyl NPP. Most notably:

It's the most common primary weapon amongst Freedomers located in the Freedom HQ.
Used by Freedom forces stationed at the barrier in Army Warehouses area.
Exclusive primary weapon of Expert Monolithians located on the northern outskirts of Chernobyl NPP.
It can be found at Freedom barrier inside one of the cars

Notable users

Cap ^a
Murk

Acquiring the weapon

Sold by Skinflint for 18,000 Ru once the player has attained a good reputation with Freedom.
Sold by Barkeep for 75,000 Ru after Yantar .
Several stashes contain this weapon, the player can acquire the coordinates of one such stash (The agreed-upon secret stash) from the body of one of the Skull's party members in Army Warehouses.

The price was substantially increased by patch 1.0005 to 135,000 RU. Barkeep sells it for 75,000, however.

Clear Sky

The GP-37 is one of the very best weapons; it can be upgraded to have a faster rate of fire than any other weapon, and lower recoil than most. If modified for sniping, the GP-37 is by far the best assault rifle converted for sniper use due to its already superior accuracy and its custom scope. The player can add an M203 grenade launcher to it if one modifies it for assault purposes. It can be also mounted with a silencer by default. Unlike most of the NATO rifles, it cannot be modified to fire 5.45x39mm rounds and only uses the less common 5.56x45mm ammunition.

Notable deployments

The GP 37 is not used by any character.

Acquiring the weapon

There are only two ways to obtain it:

Accept a side mission in the Army Warehouses which requires the player to return a Flame artifact to either a Freedom member, a Duty member, a Mercenary, or a Loner. In exchange for the Flame, the player is given a G36 and 120 5.56×45mm AP rounds.
The other way to obtain this rifle is much more difficult. Player must join the Bandit faction and finish their campaign, which means you must secure the Garbage and then the northern parts of the Cordon. After eliminating the Loner base, the G36 is a reward, along with a rare Bulldog 6.

Upgrades

The gun can be upgraded to three tiers, but only the Clear Sky technician Grey can fully upgrade this weapon. Limpid and Yar are the only other technicians that can upgrade the GP 37, but they cannot fully upgrade it, although Yar can install the final accuracy upgrade for it.

Available upgrades

No.	Upgrade name	Characteristics	Price	Requirements
1	Bolt Mechanism Modification	Rate Of Fire +15%	2500 Ru	None
2	Bolt Mechanism Modification	Accuracy +30%	2500 Ru	None
3	Operating Rod Mechanism	Recoil -50%	2500 Ru	None
4	Operating Rod Mechanism	Recoil -30% (RPM decrease)	2500 Ru	None
5	Under Barrel Mount	Grenade launcher	2500 Ru	None
6	Barrel Modification	Flatness +50%	2500 Ru	None
7	Built In Scope x1.6	Built In Scope x1.6	2500 Ru	None
8	Built In Scope x4	Built In Scope x4	2500 Ru	None
9	Extend Magazine	Magazine Size +15 Rounds	2500	None
10	Improved Mechanism Balance	Rate Of Fire +25%	3750	No. 1 + 3
11	Barrel Replacement	Flatness +50%	3750	No. 2 + 4
12	Barrel Modification	Recoil -20%	3750	No. 5 + 7
13	Soft Trigger	Accuracy +40%	3750	No. 6 + 8
14	Barrel Cooling	Rate Of Fire +50%		No. 1+3+5+7+10+12
15	Electronic Stabilizer	Accuracy +40%	6250	2+4+6+8+11+13

Call of Pripyat

In Call of Pripyat, it is one of the best sniper analogues in the game once upgraded, having sniper-grade accuracy, high durability, the lowest recoil for a rifle in the game (barring the Gauss Rifle) and being relatively cheap with common ammunition. By default it comes with a x1.6 scope. It arguably becomes the best assault rifle for sniping purposes in the game once Tier 3 upgrades are available to the player, as it can be upgraded to have 100% accuracy with no sacrifice in rate of fire - a feat only matched by the Vintar BC and SVDm2. It's performance as an assault weapon is also satisfactory, the low recoil coupled with superb handling and damage will make short work of enemies at close range as it barely suffers any recoil within a 5-shot burst.

Add to it the high durability and minimal recoil, and the GP-37 is easily one of the best weapons in the entire game, matched only by the FT-200m, Strelok's SGI 5k and Frasier. It's only drawback is the lack of addons, it cannot sport an underbarrel grenade launcher nor a silencer. The lack of addons makes it less universal than the FT-200m and Strelok's SGI.

The scope can be modified for either close-range combat, high-contrast sight, NVG, or adjustable magnification. Due to an oversight in the upgrade text files, the scope upgrade description mentions that the upgrade restricts the weapon's scope to x1.6 but in reality, this actually increases scope zoom to x4.0 rather than restrict.

Acquiring the weapon

It is rare to find in random NPCs' possession in the beginning of the game:
- Eventually they can be procured from Black and sometimes Skull.
- Kremen carries this gun, and he might die during the skirmish for the Duty warehouse, if you give Morgan's PDA to Freedom. Although, the chances of this happening is extremely low, even if the player doesn't interfere in the fight as Kremen has an unusually high amount of health.
- Sometimes a member of a randomly spawned Freedom squad carries this weapon, and is killed off either by mutants or a Duty squad.
- A rarely spawned Loner in Zaton may also carry this gun. He and his squad can be found far south east of the Waste Processing Station in the "corner" of Zaton area.
- Obtained from assassinating Jackal. Although it's possible that the other mercenaries might loot it before you do.
Bought from Hawaiian after achieving very good relations with Freedom.
Order an assault rifle from Nimble and have a 1 in 3 chance of getting it.
In the event that Jackal survives Operation: One shot, exoskeleton-clad mercenaries will often carry a GP-37 as their weapon in Pripyat.

Notable deployments

Later on in the game, most Loners who wear SEVA Suits use this gun (or the VSS Vintorez), but none of these Loners appears early in the game. Many Freedom members who wear Guardian of Freedom Suits use this weapon.

Notable users

Black
Kremen

Behind the Scenes

Depiction

The GP 37 is a full-sized G36 and not a G36K as some mistake it to be. The main proof that this weapon is a full-sized rifle is the number of ventholes present in the barrel, a G36K only has 4 while a full sized G36 has 6 holes. The game always featured 6 holes.

SL8GP37G36 — From top to bottom: An SL8 converted into a G36K, the in-game GP-37, and a regular G36. Note the block separating the stock and the grip on the SL8 and GP 37 along with the triangular feature near the block that is not present on the G36.

The model of the GP 37 is actually not totally based on the military-issue G36, but also on the Heckler and Koch SL8, the civilian variant of the G36 that is converted into a G36 look-alike. The main give-away about this is how the stock and grip is attached to the weapon, the grip and stock on a regular G36 is always near each other while the GP 37's are noticeable apart and are separated by a big block that is not present on military G36 models. This is due to the fact on how an SL8 is designed to eliminate the attachments of pistol grips and stocks to abide by civilian gun laws in certain countries (mostly the United States) which prohibits these features, and instead mounts a fixed thumbhole stock, where the stock doubles as the grip.

It is however possible to turn these weapons into a G36 look-alike by using aftermarket parts designed for the SL8, but will still result in the features stated above, mostly the big block of plastic in the rear that separates the stock from the grip. It is not exactly known why GSC used an SL8 converted to look like a G36 as the basis for the GP 37 than the real weapon as it would be more realistic and appealing to model the GP 37 off the real-life G36.

Despite this however, the inventory icon for the GP 37 looks like a G36K the carbine variant, which is referenced by how the icon only has 4 vent-hole than 6.