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Backwater rifle
Lever Rifle
Lever-action rifle icon
Requirements
SkillSmall Guns
Attack statistics
Dmg/Attack
45 (52.3)
DPS
33.8 (39.2)
DPS (reload)
27 (31.4)
Crit Dmg
45
Crit % Mult
x5
Attacks/Sec
0.8AP30
Projectiles1Spread0.25
Ammo & reloading
Ammo Type10mm round
Ammo/Shot
1
Shots/Reload
10
Ammo Cap.10
Reload Time
3.3
Other
Weight7Value250
Item HP700
Repair
Lever-action rifles
QuestsThe Velvet Curtain
Editor ID?
Base IDxx00ed14
Perk Effects
Perks (dam.)
 
Gametitle-FO3 PL
Gametitle-FO3 PL

The backwater rifle is a unique lever-action rifle which is added to Fallout 3 with the Point Lookout add-on.

Characteristics[]

The backwater rifle boasts the highest damage-per-shot of all 10mm weapons in Fallout 3, while also possessing the second-highest damage-per-shot of all rifle-type weapons. (The highest being Lincoln's repeater)

It should be noted however, that despite this weapon's attacks and critical bonuses each being 5 damage lower than those of Lincoln's repeater (resulting in 10 less damage total on a critical hit), the backwater rifle's 5x crit-chance multiplier is capable of offering up to a 90% chance to critical for a character with a maxed-out base critical chance (10 Luck, the Finesse perk and the critical chance version of survival expert), where Lincoln's repeater, with its lower 2x multiplier would only offer a 36% chance to critical with the same stats.

In this light, the backwater rifle may be more powerful in practice for high-Luck characters, as it offers a base damage of 45 (assuming no bonuses) with a 90% chance to achieve a 90 damage critical hit, as opposed to Lincoln's repeater which causes a base damage of 50, but only has a 36% chance of achieving its 100 damage criticals. This also makes the backwater rifle an effective alternative against tougher enemies, against whom Sneak attack criticals may not guarantee a kill.

The backwater rifle at 100% condition can fire 518 shots, or approximately 52 magazines, before breaking.

It can only be repaired by using other lever-action rifle or by a vendor (or with alien epoxy).

Variants[]

Comparison[]

Name Type Dmg/shot DPS Att/sec Crit mult Crit dmg Spread AP cost Ammo Ammo cap Weight Item HP Value
Lever-action rifle Lever-action rifle 40 30 0.75 x5.0 40 0.25 30 10mm round 10 8 300 200
Lincoln's repeater Lever-action rifle 50 37.5 0.75 x2.0 50 0 25 .44 Magnum 15 5 600 500
Backwater rifle Lever-action rifle 45 33.8 0.75 x5.0 45 0.25 30 10mm round 10 7 700 250

Location[]

The backwater rifle is found on a shelf in the Chinese Intelligence Bunker.

Related quests[]

Behind the scenes[]

  • The name of this rifle is probably a reference to a backwater part of the country. That is, an isolated and backward place, and it can be reasonably said that Point Lookout is a backwater region.
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