Best use for .38 ammo????

[Long Live Swagtato]

so im level 22 with a bunch of .38 ammo and cant find a good way to put it to use as it does 20 damage in my max round hardend pipe rifle and its like way lower compaired to other weapons if have should i increase a skill??

[Docsprock]

I save them in order to trade for ammo I actually use. Same with 5mm.

[ghpstage]

Some people use them as currency, but they aren't all that bad in guns.
At a minimum lots of enemies don't level so a very light gun that uses ammo that you find everywhere is nice for killing weaklings. They can also make good use of per hit type effects, i.e explosive/wounding/sniper rank 2.
Suppressors are also available to it earlier than most guns so it can remain very relevant by spamming sneak attacks <- Its actually quite impressive when used in this role. I still successfully use a non legendary automatic .38 pipe sniper at levels >130 on survival.

[Chaosium]

Combat rifle has a modded .38 receiver and it's pretty much superior in every aspect compared to pipe guns. Perk requirement is pretty high, though

[lp0rc]

If you can get a legendary pipe weapon with explosive or some other desireable effect, put a large drum on it and make it full auto.

[Zotliatlicor]

You can build early a powerful Automatic Pipe gun. Gun Nut 2 is neede for the maximum. With a Drum barrel (holds 48 rounds) it is like a more reliable minigun, even with no perks in Commando.

If you dont use the auto pipe, i would convert them to caps in trading.