How Good Is The Hunting Rifle In Fallout 4?

[@windwalker5765]

The Tinker Tom Special is a good rifle for one reason: It *always* has a suppressor, and you can get it as soon as you finish the first Railroad quest. This means you can get a Hunting Rifle suppressor long before you could craft one.

[@Nyxael5845]

I don't bother crafting because eventually all weapons will begin to scale up with you alongside their equipped mods. Supressors become very common in the mid-l to late game that it makes Gun Nut obsolete unless you are looking to craft a certain mod right away.

[@silverjohn6037]

In fairness you can get a Pipe Bolt Action with a suppressor from Trudy at Drumlin Diner even earlier and, with both fully modded, the Pipe Bolt Action only does 4 less damage (8 less if you have Rifleman maxed out).

[@windwalker5765]

@@silverjohn6037 My favorite playthrough of all, a legendary Radroach in the Concord tunnels dropped a Mighty Pipe Bolt-Action. Which, when fully modded, is the exact same damage as a Hunting Rifle, but less than half the weight. Though it can't take a recon scope.

[@writersblockdoc4488]

Generally i always look for these with the deadeye effect, i can get the same effect with jet but it’s just so much nicer to have the slow down to deal with those enemies that always randomly pull full 180°s out of nowhere on their pathing

[@mmmapplesauce1673]

An instigating hunting rifle is awesome to get. Makes it so much more “sniper-like”.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

I’m doing a survival run and Pickman Gallery has a guaranteed legendary raider (sometimes two) spawn that happens when you go down the back side and a bed right at the top. Easy to save scum a legendary there, by Survival standards, and the hunting rifle is probably the best base weapon type that a basic raider can drop. Got an instigating one, expecting I’ll eventually replace it with a Gauss, but well worth some grind. Was hoping for something explosive (.38 or 10mm or shotgun) but I’ll take it.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

For what it’s worth, this thing is only marginally better than the .308 pipe rifle (7 base damage higher with their best .308 receiver). Base attack speed is 50% faster but for a sniper rifle both are too slow for quick follow up shots either way. Also worth noting that longer range scopes (among other attachments) give a higher chance to hit in VATS.

[@silverjohn6037]

I ducked into the game to confirm but (with no Rifleman perks) the fully modded Hunting Rifle does 55 damage while the Pipe Bolt Action Rifle does 51 damage. Even with Rifleman maxed out the Hunting Rifle should only do an extra 8 points of damage while weighing 10 pounds more than the Pipe Bolt Action and needing Gun Nut 3 to get the best mods compared to Tier 2 for the Pipe Bolt Action.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

@@silverjohn6037depends on perks then. I saw 81 and 88.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

@@silverjohn6037I have kind of a mid level of perk on my current build so that tracks.

[@IveGotToast]

And you can get a suppressed Pipe Bolt Action with a scope in the first hour of the game and it'll last at least until level 30. Go to the building to the left of the museum of freedom and on the second floor you can find the rifle. Then go to Trudy at the diner and buy the guaranteed suppressed pipe pistol and just switch out the silencer. No gun nut perk needed

[@Suiberis]

Might be worth noting that if you need to go to Nuka-World early, Reba II can be pretty helpful for picking off Bloodworms and Crickets since those are some of the most obnoxious enemies of the DLC.

[@marrvynswillames4975]

The left hand bolt is so awkward

[@Rj-pw7zs]

In a game where Old Reliable, Overseers Guardian, and the Splatter Cannon/Problem Solver exist the Hunting Rifle just can't compete.

[@cat-meowhood]

Its a nice weapon for practical sniping use, what sucks is the unique versions are damn useless because of there legendary effects are really bad.

[@NorseGraphic]

The two-shot Legendary is pretty good.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

@@NorseGraphicyeah but that’s not a guaranteed. I’d take an instigating over the two shot for the way this weapon is ordinarily used, as the two shot has wonky accuracy issues and the second shot is always the base damage of the weapon rather than the current upgrade so it’s a lot less than double damage.

[@NorseGraphic]

When you pick the right perks, you can get 4 times as much damage when you fire outside of combat. I picked the silencer, the relevant perks (chance of knocking down enemies so they can’t bum rush you, damage multiplier etc.) and max ammo in magazine, long range scope. And the damage is at minimum 193 (without multiplier), so if you’ve maxed stealth, you could snipe enemies at 778 damage per shot. Most non-legendary enemies can be handled this way. If you aim for the legs, the typically ‘heavy’ feral ghoul loses their advantage, as other heavy enemies like Deathclaws. This applies to Legendaries as well. Edit. I forgot to mention it was the two-shot hunting rifle. The regular hunting rifle doesn’t do as much damage.

[@bowaster57]

Ninja, Mister Sandman and Calmex Silk should put you at around 6× damage, pump those numbers up, rook.

[@Adzinastyy]

How good is hunting rifle❎ How bad is hunting rifle✅

[@theevokeruser2356]

I was so happy when I saw my first hunting rifle. I hated using the pipe weapons so much

[@silverjohn6037]

I ducked into the game to double check I wasn't remembering wrong but the fully modded .308 Hunting Rifle (no Rifleman Perk) does 55 damage compared to 51 damage for the Pipe Bolt Action Rifle! Both have the same accuracy, same range, same number of attacks in VATS but the Hunting Rifle needs Tier 3 in Gun Nut for the upgrades while the Pipe Bolt Action only needs Tier 2 and the Hunting Rifle weighs 18 pounds compared to the Pipe Bolt Action only weighing 8.2. The only advantage the Hunting Rifle has is it can have a 10 round magazine compared to the Pipe Bolt Action only having 6 max. On the other hand the Pipe Bolt Action spawns on Legendary critters a lot earlier so it can be easier to farm for an Instigating or Two Shot. Overall I'd say the Hunting Rifle is a bit like a sports cars with a V4 engine. Looks pretty but just doesn't perform compared to an old beater. For four points of extra damage it just isn't worth the weight and the extra perk point for Gun Nut 3

[@bowaster57]

Legendary Pipe Bolt-Actions start spawning at level 6, Hunting Rifles at level 10. Maybe an hour's worth of gameplay between those levels, a negligible difference.

[@silverjohn6037]

@@bowaster57 Maybe in regular gameplay but, as I mentioned in my post, if you want to farm a known legendary spawn like the radroaches in the Concord tunnels you aren't going to be levelling up as you'll be repeating the process from a save. I'd also say, considering the 10 pound weight difference I'd rather farm for a legendary Pipe Bolt Action.

[@EmporerDragon]

Was lucky enough to get an Instigating one almost right away in my most recent playthrough. Still using it at level 70 to end fights before they even start, especially with how the next gen update borked up VATS detection.

[@Dreamer-jg9wb]

In my opinion the .50 bmg receiver isn't worth it because in normal mode the damage boost isn't worth the extra cost of the bullets and in survival mode the 50 bmgs weigh so much it would be easier to just use .308. Also if you want a 308 rifle the combat rifles are better because of the fire rate being that it is a semi auto rifle instead of a bolt action so its more reliable. My personal favorite mods as far as pure mechanics are the recoil compensated stock, the 308 receiver, the long ported barrel, the red dot(either one its based on preference), the biggest magazine I can get, and a suppressor all on the overseers guardian that you can get in vault 81 probably less than an hour from starting the game if you know where it is. Keep in mind though when first starting out it might be better to use the hunting rifle as the perks required to get the guardian kitted out needs you to be fairly high level. Sometimes I will actually just get the guardian and run .45 through it and a cheap barrel just because it is more cost effective in the early game. God Bless

[@Justanotherconsumer]

The OG is the OG broken weapon, but the inability to modify it (or find parts) at low level makes it something you grow into. On my current run I went and grabbed it ASAP but I’ve been mostly using a suppressed .308 (vanilla suppressed from Drumlin, then, Tom’s, but just found an instigating) as my primary and the OG is sometimes left home for a separate short range secondary (e.g. Deliverer) because the OG is so heavy.

[@Cappuccino53]

I'm not sure if you remember, but 6 years ago you've uploaded a video of you playing a demo of a game called "Lost To Time" (a fast paced 2d action game) By now the game has had a full release and I would love to see you play it

[@Adzinastyy]

Hunting rifle is basically a lighter bolt action combat rifle with ammo that is rare and heavy

[@mattwilliams7454]

I love the hunting rifle because it's one of the more realistic weapons. The left handed bolt bugs me a bit though.

[@Ethonra]

A terrible shame it falls off, but at least it is fun to shoot, my fav weapon in Fallout 4. I happen to own two. One is Wounding and I named it Bloodletter. The other one, ehich is more dear to my heart from farming for it for literally over nine hours, is Instigating and I named it Intrusive Thoughts.

[@wilomica]

The weights in FO4 are weird. Only the smg Tommy gun is correct. The .50 is confusing on purpose? The picture on the box looks like a .50 BMG but the printing on the side says 290 grains which is the weight of the .50 A.E. Desert Eagle pistol round. The .50 AE is 25% more powerful than a .44 magnum round. The .50 BMG is practically a cannon round About 3x the power! Oh well Bethesda! What you said about render range is right. I never make a sniper build. Though if you have to it's best to go Gauss rifle.

[@i_am_ergo]

If you don't rush any of the unique hunting rifles and just try to use the basic one in combat and upgrade normally as you level, it's *super* bad. It chews through ammo, doesn't have a proper long-range scope, is almost impossible to land stealth headshots on humans, ghouls and supermutants with. A three-crank laser musket easily outcompetes it as the early game sniper rifle. Then in the midgame you just craft a scoped semi-auto combat rifle, and it takes a steaming dump on the hunting rifle. So unless you rush a unique or get lucky with a legendary one, the hunting rifle isn't even worth picking up.

[@danielvaughn8002]

Would you say that a two shot hunting rifle is worth using? I'm planning on making the overseer's guardian a 50 caliber while keeping the hunting rifle using more common ammo

[@Red-yt2dk]

Unique guns in F4 do not have different stats than their generic counterparts. All they are is a preset mod/legendary/name configuration.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

Deliverer is maybe the only exception?

[@Red-yt2dk]

@@Justanotherconsumer You're right actually, but only because the Deliverer isn't actually a 10mm pistol It's a different base item

[@devinvaldesalice7427]

Also Krevmths tooth. Or however you spell it lol

[@Red-yt2dk]

@@devinvaldesalice7427 Kremvh is not a unique item, it's an unique _mod_. Without it's mod, the tooth is just a named machete.

[@devinvaldesalice7427]

@@Red-yt2dk yeahhh alright you have me there....I guess. Seems like you're being overly critical about it though. Kind of splitting hairs

[@CaptainBrash]

I normally skip it in survival, it's not enough better than the pipe bolt rifle to justify being like double the weight and needing higher level gun nut to mod. A shame because it's the prettiest gun in the game (until you get the marksman stock and lose the wood furnishings anyway)

[@sirpikapika1129]

honestly I never use the scopes, I hate the fact that it blacks out the screen every time you scope in

[@johnflier4873]

The hunting rifle is a frustrating weapon for me. It is heavy, slow-firing, and requires high Gun Nut to mod effectively compared to when it starts dropping. It doesn't one-shot kill enemies who you'd want it to handle. It's too slow if you've been spotted by...I started listing and realized I was listing almost every enemy type. It doesn't take legendary mods all that well other than instigating, mighty, and two shot. Every other good weapon effect rewards a better rate of fire. I'd rather avoid carrying one of these most of the time. Also, you can have a suppressed pipe sniper immediately after visiting Drumlin Diner the first time, and that's just better.

[@bravalloy]

I guess weapons weight so much just as a economic (bad) balance so one could not carry a lot to sell. Of course, some junk can be easily sold for fast money in the first part of the game.

[@handsomejack3149]

Hunting Rifle is good at the start to midgame but weak later, sniper players should switch to the Gauss rifle or old reliable. I use it with .50 receiver but the damage is too low and it’s one of two weapons that use .50 ammunition. Without mods is FO4 a bit lame with its weapon choices.

[@Philosophocat]

Обрез ✊🏼🚩

[@blursedAI]

The New Vegas hunting rifle feels better to use, I never use the hunting rifle in Fallout 4

[@Onlybadtakes2589]

0/10 visuals (left handed) 10/10 performance

[@chilarius]

being left handed and shortened by default make the hunting rifle already an abominaton. Forget the stats and magic effects.

[@Rj-pw7zs]

You realize some people are left handed right?

[@chilarius]

@@Rj-pw7zs Yes, and they would use left handed weapons. And right handed people would use right handed weapons, not the other way around. (I am ambidextrous by the way and i don´t want to use any weapons)

[@Rj-pw7zs]

@@chilarius so it makes zero sense to include the rifles being left handed in your reasons for them being abominations.

[@chilarius]

@@Rj-pw7zs You make zero sense not acknowledging that all hunting rifles in the game are left handed and everyone in game are right handed.

[@basicallybacon2593]

Terrible all of them, no DPS, slow ROF, and outdamaged per shot by the Combat Rifle.

[@devinvaldesalice7427]

It weighs weight? Just say "pounds"!

[@Flood520]

Boring but practical as a sniper rifle. No other real utility IMHO. Also requires an investment in gunsmith to fix it up right.

[@cyh6092]

Ridiculous recoil and slow follow-up shot. Better off using something else for a sniper rifle.