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The police pistol is a single action .357 revolver with a swing-out cylinder, similar to that of a .44 magnum revolver instead of a loading gate like the .357 magnum revolver. In comparison to the .357 magnum, it features a shorter barrel and a worn matte black (blued) finish. It lacks rear sights and has a shorter hammer with a flat, textured spur as opposed to the smooth, rounded spur of the .357 magnum revolver.
The police pistol outclasses the .357 revolver in three key performance areas. It produces a much higher damage output with critical hits (it inflicts even more damage than the .44 magnum revolver with such a hit) especially so with the better criticals perk, has a faster fire rate, and due to its swing-out cylinder, it can fully reload almost a full second faster. Additionally, it is considered a holdout weapon, and can be concealed and taken into weapon-free locations, regardless of the Courier's Sneakskill.
xbox360 When entering V.A.T.S. with the revolver, it may be invisible during V.A.T.S. but will return to normal once V.A.T.S. is exited. [verified]
xbox360 Sometimes in V.A.T.S., if firing multiple shots into the same limb or target, the player character will fire all the shots in exactly the same place, even if the target has moved after the first shot. [verified]
ps3 The police pistol lacks vertical aim in V.A.T.S. so you will be aiming as if nothing was wrong then move to the default forward facing position when firing. [verified]
ps3 Furthermore, if using third person view, regardless of using V.A.T.S. or not, the police pistol has no vertical aim. To fix this, just change to first person view. [verified]
pcps3xbox360 If loading a saved game from the main menu in which you have police pistol equipped and drawn, the reload animation takes twice as long as normal. This can be solved by simply switching to another gun and then back again. [verified]
xbox360 When equipping the pistol or hot key equip, instead of the pistol click sound it has a rifle shunt sound. [verified]
xbox360 When firing it you may not pull back the hammer making it shoot two bullets at a time. [verified]
xbox360 When firing the gun in VATS, it may keep you in iron sights after leaving VATS. [verified]