What is the BEST Sniper rifle

[Howdoyoupurr]

I know about the plasma rifle talking normal bullet sniper rifle??

[Nathan]

im using a bolt action pipe rifle with level 2 gun mods atm. i can pretty much one hit most things with it

[FormerlyKnownAsChris]

Im using the basic hunting rifle I found in a church near dimond city. Great damage and it can probably be even better once i fully mod the thing.

[Endlarl]

A player's choice of sniping weapon is going to fall into a matter of personal taste and needs. I personally use the Pipe Bolt Action Rifle as my sniping weapon of choice most of the time. but I will try to pin point the good and bad aspects of a few weapons I've tried out. Bear in mind, this is my opinion only, and your choice of sniping weapon is, in the end, your choice.

These rules apply to the text that follows: This assumes that you can mod your preferred weapon to your tastes, and it excludes all legendary weapons of all kinds.

Your main choices for sniper weapons will be the Pipe Bolt Action Rifle, Hunting Rifle, Combat Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Laser Rifle, and Laser Musket. (This list is not all inclusive, as I am not sure there are not other legitimate options later down the game road)

First, the pro's and con's.

Pro's.

Combat Rifle: Sixth in power. Semi automatic, uses .45 rounds early on, and can be modded later to use .308 rounds. Pretty quick fire rate, can be suppressed, and has a large magazine capacity.

Hunting Rifle: Fourth in power. Uses .308 rounds, can be modded later to use .50 cal rounds and can be geared with a silencer, has lots of mod options, and pretty much is an all around decent sniper choice.

Laser Musket: First in power when cranked to max (assuming you're using a three crank or more mod). Uses fusion cells, fairly easy to gain the perks needed to mod out this weapon. To further power the shot coming from this weapon, crank it till it stops cranking.

Laser Rifle: third most powerful. Accurate, lots of mod options, uses fusion cells, is one of the lightest sniping weapons on this list, and fires rapidly for a sniping weapon, allowing you to pick off other nearby targets before they get into cover.

Pipe Bolt Action Rifle: fifth in power. Uses .308 rounds, can be modded later to use .50 cal rounds, and can be equipped with a suppressor, and has a good assortment of mods that can be gained cheaply early on through the gun nut perk, and is one of the lightest options in this list.

Plasma Rifle: second in power. Fast fire rate, Innate plasma burning effect (needs verification), accurate, lots of mods, and is the lightest sniping weapon on this list.

Now, the Cons.

Combat Rifle: Very heavy, high requirements to mod out properly, loads .45 rounds early on, requires a mod to fire .308 rounds, and the lowest per shot damage of the sniping weapons listed here.

Hunting Rifle: Heavy when fully modded, even with a light frame mod,and the fire rate is what you'd expect from a bolt action weapon. Properly modding this weapon requires higher level perks.

Laser Musket: You get one shot. That's it. After that, you have to crank the weapon again. Not a terrible thing, considering that your first well placed shot should easily terminate your target, but it doesn't help making those follow up shots. Also, the weapon cannot be suppressed and gives your position away. The musket is also pretty heavy, weighing in around 20+ pounds after modding.

Laser Rifle: Cannot be suppressed in any way.

Pipe Bolt Action Rifle: Aesthetically speaking, it looks like en elongated piece of crap. Fire rate is abysmal, slower than even the Hunting Rifle, so follow up shots are not usually feasible.

Plasma Rifle: Cannot be suppressed in any way.

My Sniping weapon of choice for most situations: The Pipe Bolt Action Sniper Rifle.
Reasons: Though it looks like crap, it is the lightest sniping weapon that can be suppressed. When sniping, I plan out one well placed shot into someone's head, then back off if I can to wait for my next opportunity, so I don't often need to worry about follow up shots most of the time. Fully modded, the Pipe Bolt action isn't that far behind the Hunting rifle (only about 5 points difference) while saving around 10 pounds of weight (I tend to pack rat a bit, which mainly revolves around a few extra guns). The weight I save allows me to carry a few choice back up weapons in case I end up in a pinch, and to pick up a few extra odds and ends here and there for my budding community. For those situations I feel I need some serious raw sniping damage, I turn to the Laser Musket. I don't carry it around typically though, because it weighs so much (and I have a habit of making low strength characters in the fallout series).

[ウィッチ（？）]

Forgot Gauss Rifle here.. not sure you can call this "sniper" rifle though.

[Duke Flapjack]

The Gauss rifle is, IMO, too inaccurate to be a good sniper rifle. I like using the .50 hunting rifle but the fire rate is SLOW. You have to 100% sure you make your shot count.

[Waylander]

Hunting Rifle is basically the best all rounder for almost all of the game imho until you get the gauss rifle at which point if you have put points into sneak attack and rifles you can be doing ~500dmg with a 5.3x multiplier for each hit. Basically 1 hits anything....

[Waylander]

Originally posted by captainradish:

The Gauss rifle is, IMO, too inaccurate to be a good sniper rifle. I like using the .50 hunting rifle but the fire rate is SLOW. You have to 100% sure you make your shot count.

With full mods my gauss rifle matches the accuracy of my hunting rifle... only thing which beats them in accuracy was plasma rifle fully modded for accuracy

[Mansen]

Suppressors? On a sniper? No no no... You're doing it all wrong.

Anyway - The only real answer is whatever lengendaries happen to drop. Get lucky and find a gun that adds 50 rad damage on top of its own? Yeah.. that's significant.

I have a bolt action pipe rifle that does double damage to any target with full health - Perfect sniper.

[Waylander]

Originally posted by Mansen:

Suppressors? On a sniper? No no no... You're doing it all wrong.

I have a .50 suppressed sniper rifle which does ~200 x 5.3 damage on a sneak attack. or a gauss which does ~500 x 5.3. Kinda beats a measley double damage. BUT if you put a suppressor ON yours then you can have a rifle which does whatever x 10.6 damage!

[Endlarl]

Yes, suppressor on my sniper rifle, because for a few crucial seconds, after I've shot my first target, I have a field of confused human targets looking around, that I can get a second, maybe even a third sneak attack in, able to drop them as well. This doesn't work as well against animals and ghouls, as they tend to run right at you no matter what after you take your first shot.

Also, I did state the list was not all inclusive.

[Mansen]

On the other hand - No suppresor, better range. They won't have anyone to SPOT in the first place.

[Endlarl]

Not always an option indoors.

[Mansen]

Originally posted by Wraith:

Not always an option indoors.

Then you're not looking for a sniper rifle in the first place, but a high damage weapon. You have much, much better choices available than rifles for close quarters combat, indoors.

[Waylander]

Originally posted by Mansen:

On the other hand - No suppresor, better range. They won't have anyone to SPOT in the first place.

I have never had a range problem using a supressed rifle... I could stand on the roof of buildings and snipe enemies at the edge of the draw range (on ultra)

[Mansen]

Originally posted by Waylander:

I have never had a range problem using a supressed rifle... I could stand on the roof of buildings and snipe enemies at the edge of the draw range (on ultra)

You can shoot even further without one, and with longer draw range.