M40 or the drifter crossbow?

[peppergomez]

obviously the m40 has a lot more range, but the crossbow is silent and it offers special bolts like the frenzy one to make targets attack their allies. I just unlocked the M40 from Tucker but decided to keep the crossbow for now. There isn't that much need for long range sniping combat in this game is there? Snipers seem to be the only thing so far in the first few hours that would really need a scoped M40 for.

[Maximilian17]

I started with crossbow, then move into sniper, then move into a big gun.... "keep an eye out for armored guys you will encounter in the main storyline, they carry an mg45 each and this is the easiest way to get one. just keep refilling ammo for the gun whenever you get a chance and you will be good."

I think you need trust level 3 with tucker camp, then you can buy mg45

Now, I only use incendiary crossbow to burn crier nests. Better range and using less resources than molotov bottle

Sniper is good against human, not good against hordes.

[simon.pete15]

The crossbow is a really good weapon. You also get a trophy for killing enemies using every type of bolt.
Like Maximillian says, armoured guys with MG45s or flame throwers can be a bit of a problem.
You'll get to incendiary, explosive, poison and nest residue bolts. Explosive and incendiary bolts work against these guys, especially if you can get a shot into the flamethrower back pack
Supplies for crafting bolts are usually fairly easily found. Although whichever thing you're out of will never be around when you need it. But find one and suddenly there's loads of it around

[mw00]

MGs in this game have a specific purpose of being anti horde weapons. Any other option (sniper rifle, crossbow) is better against humans/straggler zombies.

[BoozeJunky]

The big advantage of the crossbow early on is the ability to craft free ammo from the environment, and it's not bad in the damage department. Over time, I switched to the higher powered sniper rifles because they have great penetration when dealing with hordes, and they're great for not just long-range counter sniping, but for targeting gas tanks on flame-thrower enemies and knocking the helmets off of heavies, which you can then take out with a single pistol round to the head.

In the later game, the best use for the crossbow is probably igniting crow/freaker nests from a safe distance. I say probably because I haven't actually tried. Scavenging for materials is such tedious busywork that there's no way in hell I'm wasting resources clearing out all of those birds nests, especially when I could have a lot more fun using them to craft napalm and molotovs for fighting hordes. Still, I can't imagine the devs wouldn't let you ignite crows nests with flaming crossbow bolts. That'd be a massive gameplay oversight.