For an overview of unique weapons only, see Fallout: New Vegas unique weapons. For the weapon stat comparison tables, see Fallout: New Vegas weapons/Comparison. |
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This page lists all weapons in Fallout: New Vegas. |
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Related articles[]
The following articles have been split to provide a better reading experience:
- Weapon stats comparison tables
- Aim down sights / True iron sights mode
- Ammunition
- Combat
- Silent weapons (weapons by sound level)
- Unique weapons
- V.A.T.S.
- Weapon mods
- Weapon skills: Energy Weapons, Explosives, Guns, Melee Weapons, Unarmed
Guns[]
Pistols[]
- Unique weapons are listed in bold text.
- 1 Normal holdout weapon: May be concealed regardless of Sneak skill.
- 2 Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥ 50.
Rifles[]
- Unique weapons are listed in bold text.
- 1 Scoped by default.
SMGs[]
Submachine guns | ||
---|---|---|
.45 Auto SMG |
9mm submachine gun |
Vance's 9mm submachine gun |
10mm submachine gun |
Sleepytyme (GRA)1 |
12.7mm submachine gun |
12.7mm submachine gun (GRA) |
H&H Tools nail gun |
Silenced .22 SMG |
- Unique weapons are listed in bold text.
- 1 Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥ 50.
Shotguns[]
Shotguns | ||
---|---|---|
Caravan shotgun |
Sturdy caravan shotgun |
Hunting shotgun |
Dinner Bell |
Lever-action shotgun |
Riot shotgun |
Sawed-off shotgun1 |
Big Boomer |
Single shotgun |
- Unique weapons are listed with bold text.
- 1 Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥ 50.
Heavy weapons[]
Heavy weapons | ||
---|---|---|
K9000 cyberdog gun1 |
FIDO1 |
Minigun |
CZ57 Avenger |
Shoulder mounted machine gun |
- Unique weapons are listed with bold text.
- 1 Scoped by default.
Energy weapons[]
Energy pistols[]
- Unique weapons are listed in bold text.
- 1 May only be acquired if one has chosen the Wild Wasteland trait.
- 2 Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥ 50.
- 3 Frightens abominations.
- 4 Does bonus damage to robots and power armored foes.
- 5 Quest item.
Energy rifles[]
- Unique weapons are bolded.
- 1 May only be acquired if one has not chosen the Wild Wasteland trait.
- 2 Scoped by default.
Energy heavy weapons[]
- Unique weapons are listed with bold text.
- 1 Does bonus damage to robots and power armored foes.
Explosives[]
Projectile[]
- Unique weapons are listed with bold text.
- 1 Scoped by default.
Thrown[]
Thrown weapons | ||
---|---|---|
Dynamite2 |
Fire bomb2 |
Flash bang2 |
Frag grenade2 |
Holy Frag Grenade3 |
Incendiary grenade |
Long-fuse dynamite2 |
MFC grenade1 |
Nuka-grenade1 |
Plasma grenade2 |
Pulse grenade2 4 |
Tin grenade1 |
- Unique weapons are listed with bold text.
- 1 Normal holdout weapon: May be concealed regardless of Sneak skill.
- 2 Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥ 50.
- 3 May only be acquired if one has chosen the Wild Wasteland trait.
- 4 Does bonus damage to robots and power armored foes.
Placed[]
- 1 Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥ 50.
- 2 Custom-built weapon.
- 3 Does bonus damage to robots and power armored foes.
Melee[]
Bladed[]
- Unique weapons are listed with bold text.
- 1 Normal holdout weapon: May be concealed regardless of Sneak skill.
- 2 Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥ 50.
- 3 Ignores DR/DT.
- 4 Includes double normal weapon damage in V.A.T.S.
- 5 Does bonus damage to robots and power armored foes.
Blunt[]
- Unique weapons are listed with bold text.
- 1 Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥ 50.
- 2 Includes double normal weapon damage in V.A.T.S.
- 3 Does bonus damage to robots and power armored foes.
Thrown[]
Thrown melee weapons | ||
---|---|---|
Proton throwing axe2 |
Protonic inversal throwing axe2 |
Throwing hatchet |
Throwing knife1 |
Throwing knife spear |
Throwing spear |
Tomahawk |
- 1 Normal holdout weapon: May be concealed regardless of Sneak skill.
- 2 Does bonus damage to robots and power armored foes.
Unarmed[]
- Unique weapons are listed with bold text.
- 1 Normal holdout weapon: May be concealed regardless of Sneak skill.
- 2 Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥ 50.
- 3 Includes double normal weapon damage in V.A.T.S.
- 4 Does bonus damage to robots and power armored foes.
- 5 Ignores DR/DT.
Other[]
Despite being in the weapons category on the Pip-Boy 3000, these items are not used offensively.
Other weapons | ||
---|---|---|
Big Mountain Transportalponder! |
Binoculars |
Codac R9000 |
Laser detonator |
- Quest items are listed with bold text.
Unused weapons[]
Cut content[]
- 1 Available in all add-ons except Courier's Stash.
Non-player character weapons[]
Behind the scenes[]
Specific rifles
There are no AR-15s, Colt Commandos, Browning Hi-Powers, BFRs, M1 Garands, Winchester 1886s, 1887s, or 1892s in Fallout: New Vegas -- just Service Rifles, Assault Carbines, 9mm Pistols, Hunting Revolvers, This Machine, Brush Guns, Lever-Action Shotguns, and Cowboy Repeaters.
That's also why there are no M1911s or Thompsons in Honest Hearts, but you'll find plenty of .45 Auto Pistols and .45 Auto Submachine Guns.”General implementation
- What are iconic Fallout weapons that should return?
In my mind, the 10mm pistol and SMG had to return, as did the minigun, sawed-off shotgun, flamer, and a few other choice weapon.
- What are players’ role-playing expectations within this setting and what weapons will help the expression of those roles?
We can’t account for every type of character a player might imagine, but we knew a lot of people would want to be a) Mad Max b) post-apocalyptic cowboy/cowgirl c) wacky bazinga science person d) agro military operator e) sneakthief stealth murderer.
Supporting those concepts throughout the game necessitated an array of thematically appropriate equipment options that was available from the beginning and allowed for power growth through the end game. That’s why you can use revolvers and lever action rifles from the first two hours (.357 Revolver and Cowboy Repeater) through the Battle of Hoover Dam (Hunting Revolver and Brush Gun).
- What weapons share common ammunition types to avoid resource/loot problems?
There are only a few weapons that use an ammo type that isn’t used elsewhere. Western-style weapons make some of that easy since a lot of revolvers and lever-action rifles used the same rimmed ammo types. Ammo types like .22 and .308, were also easy to use in multiple weapons.
- What are weapons with distinctive/iconic looks that can stand out from each other?
Service and battle rifles are based on distinctive historical weapons, the slim 9mm pistol is easy to distinguish from the bulky 10mm, and even the lever-actions are relatively easy to distinguish from the bolt-action and sniper rifles.
- What are weapons that can be modified in distinctively different ways from each other to allow for orthogonal growth within a subtype of weapons (e.g. lever-action rifles).
If all weapons of a certain type can be modified in the same way, upgrading those weapons becomes less interesting, especially since we expect players to stick with thematically consistent weapons (not always, of course, but…). This is why the cowboy repeater and brush gun feature top eject: it prohibits the use top-mounted scopes, allowing the trail carbine to be modified in a way that the other two lever-actions cannot. The unique cowboy repeater does have a scope, but it’s a side-mounted scope, like the one used by Clint Eastwood in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
- What are different ammo subtypes that can be used that offer distinctly different properties from each other to allow for another axis of differentiation.
I also felt like Fallout 1 (especially) had great gun progression. I really liked how even though the Desert Eagle .44 did more damage than the 10mm pistol, it had a lower ammo cap. Also, because the .44 Magnum ammo is relatively rare (IIRC) when you get the first DE from Garl, it promotes more deliberate, considered use of the weapon and suggests keeping the 10mm pistol around as backup. That sort of overlapping/orthogonal progression is great and I tried to achieve it in F:NV. I always tried to make the “upgrade” of a weapon have one thing that was obviously inferior to / different from the previous version. With the .357 Magnum Revolver and .44 Magnum Revolver, the .357 is slightly more accurate and can never suffer a malfunction/jam.
F3 did some things with ammo types that I understand and appreciate from a game design perspective but I felt contrasted too much from real-world weapon/ammo design. The fact that a handgun and a rifle shared an ammo type is nice for gameplay, but .32 is an odd caliber to use for a number of reasons. One of the things that bothered me most was the use of a similar ammo type in a revolver (typically using rimmed cartridges) and a bolt-action rifle (typically using rimless cartridges and headspacing at the front of the cartridge). Because I liked a more (American) western aesthetic for F:NV, I decided to use rimmed “cowboy cartridges” for revolvers and lever-action rifles. This was extremely common back in the day and can still be done with modern revolvers and lever-actions in the same caliber. The hunting rifle (.32 in F3) went to .308, which we reserved for high-powered rifles and didn’t use in handguns.
In general, when we used real-world weapons and ammo types, I tried to go with ones ordinary people (well, Americans, anyway) were familiar with: .22 LR 9mm, 10mm, .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, 5.56mm, .308, .50 MG. The ones that were made up (12.7mm) or less familiar (.45-70 Gov’t) were generally reserved for later weapons.
The real-world weapons were also sort of a “greatest hits” list: the 9mm based on the Browning Hi-Power, the .357 based on the Colt SAA, etc. - classic designs for people familiar with them that looked great for players who weren’t familiar with them. At times we had to adjust the design for animation/gameplay purposes, e.g. the Automatic Rifle in Dead Money is recognizable as some kind of BAR knockoff, but it differs in some significant ways.
I based the anti-materiel rifle on the Hécate II because honestly I was/am sick of seeing Barretts in games and I think the Hécate II looks better.”— Joshua Sawyer, TumblrJoshua Sawyer: It's partially for that and also because they aren't "really" those weapons. We take liberties for animation and aesthetic reasons. Rather than provoke players into debating how "legit" a weapon is, I'd rather just give weapons a functional name that gets the basic idea across and leave it at that.”— Joshua Sawyer, Formspring answers, archived at RPGCodex
Joshua Sawyer: Is this honestly the first time you've considered that many of the firearms in Fallout were made Pre-War? Come on.
EDIT: Re-reading my response, it sounds rude. Apologies. I'm not sure if this is a genuine or disingenuous question, partially because the majority of questions are anonymous.
The majority of firearms in use in the Fallout setting are likely Pre-War in manufacture. Things that would make conventional firearms stop working: rust (seizing), dry rot (anything wood or rubber), alkaline corrosion/buildup (anything with batteries).
A lot of firearms (and other things, but especially firearms) put in long-term storage are coated in a substance called cosmoline that can prevent rust (and other processes) for a long time. It's unlikely that all of the weapons in Fallout were coated for storage, so it's just a hand-wave of the setting.”— Joshua Sawyer, Formspring answers, archived at RPGCodexJoshua Sawyer: I tuned all of the EW stats (too low for a lot of them, unfortunately), but the EWs were modeled and textured mostly by Mitch Ahlswede, Paul Fish, and Aaron Brown.”— Joshua Sawyer, Formspring answers, archived at RPGCodex
Joshua Sawyer: I think continuous beam weapons are cool. We actually tried implementing a continuous beam weapon in F:NV and it was a colossal mess. We put a fair amount of time into it, but it was causing tremendous problems, so we pulled it out.”— Joshua Sawyer, Formspring answers, archived at RPGCodex
Joshua Sawyer: There were a variety of animation and model issues with the laser weapons that delayed any attempts to add iron sights prior to implementing "true" iron sights. Once that system was in place, we realized that we would need to do a certain amount of work well into beta to make true iron sights work for laser weapons. Because the weapon artists were already heavily tasked and the QA staff had a huge amount of content to go through, I decided that it was too late to implement the required content. On their own, the weapons don't actually require that much work to modify for iron sights. The timing was just really bad.”— Joshua Sawyer, Formspring answers, archived at RPGCodex
Unique weapons
Deciding what weapons would get unique variants was a little more difficult. The first consideration was to make sure the uniques weren’t all bunched up in one type of weapon, so there should be unique weapons more or less equally spread across different categories.
After that, it was more arbitrary and based on feeling/inspiration than anything practical. I always figured people would want to see the return of the .223 pistol, a unique 9mm pistol and sniper rifle seemed obvious, and when we made Honest Hearts, not including a unique .45 would have been a high crime.
Over time, there were also gaps I saw that became opportunities for new uniques. The Survivalist’s Rifle was created to fill a gap between the sniper rifle and the service rifle and to get more use out of the 12.7mm round.
When I started as a game designer at Black Isle, I worked on the original Icewind Dale. We used (a lot of) words to tell the story of a unique item. Fallout: New Vegas didn’t have text descriptions for items, so the story had to be told through the appearance of the weapon or armor itself. Details like the writing on A Light Shining in Darkness and the Survivalist’s Rifle or the bits and pieces of info that can be gleaned from the Desert Ranger Armor are all part of that. Many players never notice them, or if they do notice them, it’s just part of the aesthetic of the item, but for some players, those details tell the story of the item and fill in details about the world and its history.”— Joshua Sawyer, TumblrAll of those things were kind of crummy for a while, but if we hadn't gone through the stage of "Yeah... this is... okay, I guess," we would never have reached the subsequent stages. Coil/rail gun technology used to be completely impractical. Now it's reached the stage where maybe/sorta we could mount an enormous one on a destroyer and blast through a bunker with a huge slug from miles away. We're probably not going to have Eraser- or Fallout-style Gauss rifles for a while, but we see the potential.
In the Fallout universe, I think that the military appeal of weaponry that uses a small number of more-or-less universal ammunition types would be great. Today, we have NATO standards so that allies armies can share ammunition. But what if you could use the same ammunition type for powering a sniper rifle that you'd use for a devastating close-range weapon (e.g. a Microfusion Cell powering a Laser Rifle or a Plasma Rifle)? For a military force in the field, the flexibility of that would be immense.
Anyway, I considered the EWs in F:NV to have reached the point where they were starting to replace conventional weapons, but had not yet completely eclipsed them -- sort of like the early days of firearms, when they were still being used concurrently with bows.”— Joshua Sawyer, Formspring
Bugs[]
- Can be fixed by making a new save and restarting the console.
Scoped guns will occasionally display a blank "computer terminal" screen instead of the scope. This bug completely blocks the weapon's view when using the "scope". On the Xbox 360, this can be fixed by clearing the system cache and reloading the game. It eventually "goes away" on its own, or by restarting the console, but the cause for start/end is not yet determined. This also makes it hard to use a terminal since no screen or text appears unless you have the weapon out. This can also be similar when lockpicking as the tumbler may disappear, although it is not impossible to still attempt to pick the lock, depending on the difficulty.[verified]
- Occasionally, weapons dropped by the player will have the red "Press A to steal x" marking as if the weapon was previously owned, regardless of whether or not it ever was owned by an NPC. This can be fixed by opening the console, clicking the weapon, and typing the "setownership" command.[verified]
- With heavy energy weapons that use a backpack as an ammunition supply as well as the katana with a sheath, removing a weapon that has one will cause it to remain on your back. This happens with multiple backpacks, so they clip through each other. This can be corrected by equipping the weapon that caused this, then unequipping it.[verified]
- Sometimes, when using melee weapons, you get blood splatter on the weapon and the blood refuses to come off of the weapon. You can fix this by leaving the game and coming back.[verified]
- Rarely, the weapon models can become small.[verified]
- Sometimes, when you fire until you have no ammo left, the gun will still shake like it is shooting. It won't make a sound or inflict any damage.[verified]
See also[]
- Fallout weapons
- Fallout 2 weapons
- Fallout 3 weapons
- Fallout 4 weapons
- Fallout 76 weapons
- Fallout Tactics weapons
- Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel weapons
- Fallout: New Vegas ammunition