Difference between Rifles and Pistols?

[Sneakimus]

Hey guys, I'm curious; what's the general difference between Pistols and Rifles in Fallout 4?

In some games, Pistols are obvious side arms to use when your main gun is out, but in Fallout 4 they seem more like primary weapons. And because of the way Perks work, you'll generally only want to stick to a single default weapon type.

Rifles and Pistols seem equal in most respects, except that Rifles seem to have better range/accuracy and slightly better magazine capacity.
So what advantages to Pistols have?

When I play Fallout 4, I always find myself sticking to Rifles. I'm not sure why I would ever want to choose Pistols.

[Ibadgrammar]

for me i always change gun all time ever gun fight just dont know what gun to use

[Nish-Ki]

Weight for the weapon, rifles tend to be heavier and take longer to switch out. So dropping a stock of a rifle to make it pistol like would lower a bit from range and accuracy but make it lighter and faster to equip. Mostly noticably from Pipe pistol and pipe rifle. But another notable would be the weapon's mods, putting a stock on a rifle then making it full auto, would be much easier to use than a pistol with sharpshooter grip and making that full auto. More on that being both pistol and rifle has a perk to lvl up and do more damage, which ever suits your gameplay is the one you should choose.
Remember when I said weight, that factors into your stealth. Yes Stealth. You get more sneak with light weapons ie. silenced pistols , which extends to your armor as well.
Get tired of machine gun fights, switch to a powerful, light and accurate revolver or sneaky peaky silenced pistol.

[Cranky-Cat]

Pistols will be more likely to hit if you don't aim. If you use rifles to "shoot from the hip" your shots are more likely to go off center.. There's a strength perk to improve non-aimed shots though. Also, pistols generally take fewer action points to shoot i think.

[Sneakimus]

Originally posted by Cranky-Cat:

. Also, pistols generally take fewer action points to shoot i think.

So far it seems that's the only real advantage I know of.

Weapon weight is a non issue, even on survival mode, as you'll usually stick to a single weapon, and happily carry a 40lb weapon if it was good enough.
I don't think I have ever noticed the extra time a rifle takes to equip, especially because the game encourages you to stick to a single weapon, doesn't penalize you for carrying your weapon out, doesn't penalize you for firing in melee, and I rarely switch weapons mid fight.
Rifle penalty to stealth is easily offset by the extra range it provides, allowing you to start the engagement from further, and if you're really keen on stealthing & not engaging, it can be unequipped anywya.


I guess Pistols could be good for VATS crit builds then?

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by Master:

Rifle penalty to stealth is easily offset by the extra range it provides, allowing you to start the engagement from further, and if you're really keen on stealthing & not engaging, it can be unequipped anywya.

If you're investing in Gunslinger, pistols can end up with better range than rifles thanks to the range increase provided by a couple of levels of the perk, which makes them better for stealth in that regard as well as generally having a lower weight.

[Ceejay]

Originally posted by DouglasGrave:

Originally posted by Master:

Rifle penalty to stealth is easily offset by the extra range it provides, allowing you to start the engagement from further, and if you're really keen on stealthing & not engaging, it can be unequipped anywya.

If you're investing in Gunslinger, pistols can end up with better range than rifles thanks to the range increase provided by a couple of levels of the perk, which makes them better for stealth in that regard as well as generally having a lower weight.

Also if you get things like the Deliverer maxed out it not only does a load of damage, but you can fire really quickly.

i tend to use deliverer when sneaking around in buildings and have a silenced sniper for when out and about.

[Singrave]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsICmq7RsmI

[ghpstage]

Pipe, laser and plasma weapons cna be converted between either pistol or rifle, and will have almost identical stats in either form, save for the difference between pistol grips and rifle stocks.
The pistol grips driving down AP costs and high hip fire accuracy while rifle stocks tend to increase AP costs and have much better recoil control, they have a higher accuracy stat too, but i've never noticed any signficant impact form this.

Secondly the difference in perks, Rifleman gives a very useful armour piercing effect allowing them to hit harder while Gunslinger gives a boost to range, which allows the pistols that can have long 'rifle' barrels (laser, plasma, pipe) to have absurd ranges far beyond any rifles. The laser canhave the most, maxing out at around 400, and as range seems to be the dominant stat in VATS accuracy this further entrenches VATS as their preferred role.

Thirdly is weapon choice, aside from the above that are shared by both groups,
Gunslinger has the alien blaster, .44 pistol and 10mmplusits deliverer unique,
Rifleman has the double barrel shotgun, combat shotgun, hunting rifle, combat rifle, assault rifle, gauss rifle and railway rifle.
Rifles both have more choice in numbers but also in dedicated roles, and DLCs increase the numbers again.