Forum:Sniper Rifle (fully modded) vs. Hunting Rifle (fully modded)

Which do you prefer?

Sniper rifle does slightly less damage and degrades a lot faster, but it can be silenced and is Semi-automatic. The Hunting Rifle has slightly more damage, degrades much slower, had a 10 round mag, but it bolt-action (pretty fast with the custom action) and can't be silenced. 68.60.250.193 05:37, February 14, 2011 (UTC)
 * In my opinion I still don't know what the hell the Hunting Rifle is doing on FNV, since there's a lot of better weapons in the rifle class, like the Trail Carbine if compared to him for example. Of course you can aquire the Hunting Rifle much more earlier than the Trail - the problem is not defeating the Vipers in Bonnie Springs is going there! - but the cost of the .308 rounds in the earlier game is prohibitive, unless you spended most skill points in barter. Even the Cowboy Repetear is a better option than an Hunting Rifle, specially if the Cowboy perk is picked. The sniper rifle can be silenced, so if you are a sneak guns courier the choice about the weapon should be obvious. Most of all, the rate of fire of a Sniper Rifle is double the rate of a Hunting Rifle, so even with a fully modded one, when you are about to shot the 3rd (unmodded) or 5th (modded) round, the sniper rifle already empty his magazine and are reloading for the next batch. The AP cost of a sniper rifle is almost the half of the hunting rifle, you can fire at most two shots in VATS with the later and 3 or 4 with the former. So in the end, the build and playstyle will dictate what weapon is better, not it's pure damage. Brfritos 08:41, February 14, 2011 (UTC)

Two words: Brush Gun. - Sansha 9:00, Feb 14, 2011

By the time you get a fully modded hunting rifle, and put in all those caps for all the upgrades, you ought to be able to afford a basic sniper rifle...or at least find a half-assed sniper rifle you have to get repaired. Either way, I preffer a non-modded sniper rifle to even a fully modded hunting rifle. Early on, I try to go for a hunting rifle if I am a sniper build...but my ultimate goal is to get a modded sniper rifle with the AMR for heavy armored enemies.

I disagree that the cowboy repeater is better then the hunting rifle though. Give me a scoped Hunting rifle to a cowboy repeater any day. Maybe with the cowboy perk it is better, but you have to have a rather odd skillset to get the cowboy perk...explosives, guns AND melee weapons...that's not a skill combo one would usually create. If I'm good with guns, why the hell do I want to go with melee weapons, and waste valuable gun based perks?

So, my prefference is a fully modded Sniper Rifle (including carbon fiber parts and silencer).
 * I'm assuming that you are taking the Cowboy perk for using with the Brush Gun and if you aren't, you should it: the gun becomes a beast, surpassing the highly overhyped AMR in my opinion. Also, the Brush Gun isn't available earlier in the game, unlike the Cowboy Repetear. And with Cowboy perk the Repetear becomes a better, stronger and faster weapon than the Hunting Rifle. If you want a good snipping for earlier game I recommend going to Broc Flower Cave and getting Ratslayer. But melee a odd skill? Do you ever played a melee build? With Knock-Knock or Oh, Baby! on your hands you can clean Quarry Junction or kill the Legendary Deathclaw without so much fuss, you only need proper timing and Super Slam (wich will be available to you, since it needs 45 melee and 6 ST). If a foe gets too much closer to you or packs of them (like Deathclaws or Geckos) I've found much more easy kill them with melee than guns or EW, specially if they have DT.


 * Of course all we are talking about depends of the player build. I prefer a strong courier with Minigun and AP ammo than using AMR or snipers with a sneak build if I'm going the guns way. Brfritos 11:52, February 14, 2011 (UTC)

SergeantDornan: WOOPS, I got my perks confused. I thought Cowboy needed guns, melee weapons AND explosives to 45 to get--which would be a very odd mix to have. Still, it DOES require guns AND melee weapons to 45 to get...and that seems an odd combination to me. I normally mix guns with energy weapons or (in theory, I haven't yet done it in NV) guns with explosives. If I want an unarmed or mellee build (which I have done a couple times now), I usually use unarmed and mellee together, without any guns or energy weapons skills. It just seems to be a waste of skill points to put 45 in both guns AND melee weapons, when if I am having a guns build, I don't want to be up close and personal with melee. I wasn't saying melee build is odd, but the mix of guns AND melee together does seem an odd combination--at least in the early levels.

I don't see how the AMR is over rated. If you are using AMR properly (from a distance, preferably from high ground, and aiming for the head to get the one shot one kill, then it kicks ass. If you try to use it like a mid or close range rifle though, charging into combat and hoping to kick ass, it folds quickly. It just doesn't have a high enough ROF and takes too long to reload to be used in direct encounters. I've had to do just that against a mob of deathclaws once, and it SUCKED! But, if used PROPERLY, the AMR is a kick ass gun!

One thing I've learned is that you don't always have weapons available to you, so it's better have a secondary combat skill ready to use, preferably from a different class. You confuse me now. Why having Guns AND Energy Weapons? If I have the Brush Gun, why on earth I would choose some other rifle, like a laser or even a plasma one? Or if I have the YCS/186, why do I need the Sniper/AMR? The YCS is a kick ass weapon, surpassing the sniper rifle in damage and also his ammo is lighter than the AMR uses (I play on hardcore). Brfritos 00:13, February 15, 2011 (UTC)

SergeantDornan: I usually play high int. characters, so towards the end when I am a higher level I go ahead and tag Energy weapons for my 4th skill. (I know, tag is not the most useful perk, but I always took it when available, from FO 2, to FO3, to NV..habit I guess). I just like having alot of options for ranged combat. I preffer energy weapons, but I also LOVE the AMR..depends on the mood I am in. I don't tag both guns and EW when I am making my character, I usually tag one or the other then raise the other one much later, when I really have nothing else I want to spend my SP on.

I haven't used the AMR on hardcore mode, ironically enough. The weight of the ammo is a deterent. In that case, I agree that the AMR is not a very good weapon to carry around, and I will usually stick with my good old silences Sniper Rifle and AP ammo. Really, the Sniper Rifle, with AP Ammo and sneak criticals, is enough to take out most anything in a decent amount of time. I usually carry both if I'm NOT in hardcore mode, the SR for light foes at a distance, and the AMR for tough enemies like Deathclaws.

From the perspective of maximizing your skill point usage, there really isn't a good reason to pour points into BOTH guns AND energy weapons, but if you like both, why not? Then, just use whatever you are in the mood to use.
 * Oh no, I'm not censoring you, if you want to build you courier this way that's alright. FO is a wonderful free game, I think it's a shame when people tells "this is the only way to do things". It's only strange, that's all. Concerning the AMR, hardcore mode showed that he's a little overhyped, that's the funny thing about it. Hardcore and Normal gameplay are very different from each other and in hardcore mode there are manny weapons so much effective as the AMR, but without weighing too much, specially the ammo. But in non-hardcore mode I probably would stick with AMR too. The problem is that once I've tried hardcore mode, I can't play anymore in non-hardcore mode. LOL Brfritos 07:27, February 15, 2011 (UTC)

SergeantDornan: See, I'm the oposite, Brfritos; as much as I LOVE hardcore mode, I have this OCD thing about not wanting my followers to die...and it never fails, about 5 minutes after I turn on HC mode, SOMETHING happens, and I lose my followers. I do have seperate saves just for HC mode though, LOL. Though, if Rex dies, i don't give a crap, because he's not dogmeat ;)

I think I will give the cowboy perk a try on my next playthrough. I'll pony up with a guns/melee build with explosives as icing on the cake

im a stealth player so i use the silenced sniper. but i think THIS MACHINE is a better option than the hunting rifle, being semi auto and 10 rounds per clip its a superior weapon. you can get it quite early on in game if you rush to mcarran

Q-35: I use the Brush Gun and the Ranger Sequoia. With maxed guns skill and condition, you can one shot kill Legion Centurions if at close range and if you have a good aim. They might not have lots of mods and have rare ammo, but on Hardcore the shared ammo is useful and you can get 60-90 rounds every few days at the Gun Runners. Q-35 20:37, February 16, 2011 (UTC)

SergeantDornan: I like the Brush gun and Seqoia as well, but I don't get opportunity to use them, because of the rare ammo. It's sad, but because I can't just stockpile as much as I need, I find myself RARELY using those two guns. It's the same reason I don't use the Alien Blaster, though I am an Energy Weapons fanatic. 21:42, February 16, 2011 (UTC)SergeantDornan

Check the QM in Hoover Dam for .45-70 ammo. He doesn't often have it but when he does he has hundreds of rounds.75.67.224.12 19:36, February 17, 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, I will visit there for my guns build. I LIKE the guns that use that .45-70 ammo, but I end up never using them because I don't want to waste the ammo, LOL. I'm NOT above camping outside for a few days either, and doing this for an hour or so just to stock up :) --SergeantDornan 23:05, February 17, 2011 (UTC)

Personally i perfer the hunting rifle because I'm more of a bolt-action guy, and i think the 10 round magazine is way better. matter of preference i suppose.--Icommandoxx 02:33, February 18, 2011 (UTC)icommandoxx

I will say THIS about the hunting rifle--it's a HELL of a lot better than it was in FO3. it was very versitile in FO3, don't get me wrong; it was a great general purpose rifle. That said, it lacked the power that it has in NV. So Cudos to Obsidian for that :) --SergeantDornan 05:02, February 18, 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, I didnt want to give up my hunting rifle until I got the AMR (even then I used it once in a while when trying to save .50MG or just wanted a ligter load). I like the look of the Scoped hunting rifle over the sniper rifle as well. It looks more sniper IMO. the Sniper rifle ingame looks ugly in my opinion. 5t3v0 06:02, February 18, 2011 (UTC)

I like to use the sniper rifle, especially now that I've got the silencer on it. The next mod I plan to get is the carbon-fiber stock. I want to get the anti-materiel rifle, cause if that sucker can take down Deathclaws in one shot, I'm all for that(I really hate those things). It's just too bad that there aren't any mods for the anti-materiel rifle. The one thing that really bums me is the fact that the scopes have no zoom feature, that just plain sucks. By the way, I've seen people use the abbreviation AMR. What does AMR stand for anyway?--Ryker61

AMR= Anti-Materiel Rifle. 75.67.224.12 06:55, February 19, 2011 (UTC)

to Ryker61- dont get sniper carbon fibre parts if u dont have the patch! i dont have xbox live yet and i got a sniper with silencer :) and i had full weight (250 with 10 Strength) and i bought the cabon fiber parts which are supposed to lower weight from 8 to 3 but when i attached it i still had full weight despite the gun stats saing 3 weight. so i looked on the web for a solution and it said getting the patch fixes it but sadly no xbox live, no patch for me :( hope this info helps :D

Thanks for the info guys. I got the carbon fiber stock and the silencer for the sniper rifle. It's now an absolute mainstay in my inventory. I also got the AMR. I absolutely love that bad boy. I managed to clear Quarry Junction of Deathclaws(I went back there later and found that the bloody Deathclaws had respawned). The only down side to the AMR is no mods. If there were mods for the AMR, like a silencer, lighter stock, a scope with zoom capabilities, it would be the ultimate sniper rifle. As for the weight difference for the Carbon Fiber stock, I just checked my sniper rifle in the game, and the weight for the Sniper Rifle is 3 instead of 8. I have XBox Live, so I'm guessing I somehow got the patch before I bought the Carbon Fiber Stock.--Ryker6121:19, March 10, 2011 (UTC)~12:30pm 3/10/2011

Sneak/Snipe is my usual initial build. Once I got the AMR though...it was the last thing anyone every heard. Kronnus 19:42, March 11, 2011 (UTC)

IMO, it depends on if the player has the Jury Rigging perk. Both rifles can be had early, the Hunting in Novac and the Sniper in McCarron. The Sniper's 80hp is terrible and the 3 lb weight becomes 5 lb w/ 2 weapons repair kits. Because of repair, my vote is the Hunting Rifle. Squalor 17:56, March 12, 2011 (UTC)