Sniper Rifle

From The Vault

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The Sniper Rifle as seen in Fallout 3.

The DKS-501 Sniper Rifle is an excellent long range projectile weapon. Originally .308, versions chambered in other calibers are also common.

[edit] Fallout and Fallout 2

Weapon Sniper Rifle damage: 14 - 34 damage type: Normal ammo Type .223 FMJ ammo capacity: 6 min. Strength: 5 hands req.: 2 weight: 10 pounds cost: $2200

Originally .308, this version is chambered in the more common .223 caliber. This rifle allows the user to do insane damage to the critical body areas, if player has the stats to back it up. The Sniper Rifle does not share the same reduction in accuracy when enemies close in as the Scoped Hunting Rifle.

The Sniper Rifle boasts good damage, max range, and ammo for it is quite common. It has two glaring flaws however - it has a small ammo capacity, and costs an extra AP to fire. This means targeted shots, although accurate, take 7 AP to fire.

If you look closely, the sniper rifle looks quite similar to the Wattz 2000 Laser Rifle

[edit] Fallout 3

Fallout 3 weapon Sniper Rifle Attack statistics dmg/attack: 40 DPS: 42.856 attacks/sec: 1.0714 # of projectiles: 1 spread: 0 Criticals crit dmg: 40 crit chance: x 5 Ammunition ammo type: .308 caliber ammo per shot: 1 ammo capacity: 5 shots/reload: 5 Other skill: Small Guns AP: 38 item HP: 100 repair: Sniper Rifles weight: 10 value: 300 base id: 00004353 xx003f48(sim version)

The rifle is an older model of the famed DKS-501. Still chambered for .308 ammunition, it's also extremely fragile and requires regular repair and maintenance to keep it in working condition.

The Sniper Rifle is much more effective when fired outside V.A.T.S. mode, as V.A.T.S. does not take into account accuracy bonuses of the weapon's scope.

Outside V.A.T.S., with 100 Small Guns, the weapon can shoot as far as the game will draw NPCs (Playing at high resolutions will greatly improve NPC visibility). However, the point of impact is higher than where the center of the scope is aimed. After the fire button is pressed, the scope aim will very rapidly jump up and shift slightly to the right almost at the same time the shot is actually fired. This is to simulate how the amount of force required to pull the trigger impacts the user's aim as it is pulled. See the images below to determine how to compensate for this.

The sniper rifle has very noticeable sway to it when manually aimed. The sway can be reduced with either a higher skill level in small guns, or when in sneak mode. At 100 points in Small Guns, the scope has no sway at all, though even at 100 points in Small Guns, having either of your arms crippled will result in severe sway while using the scope.

The first two images below, taken from the southwest guard platform at Fort Bannister, will be a 1-shot kill. The color of the first shot has been inverted to improve clarity. The third picture shows how much aim compensation is needed for a head shot at very long ranges.

It can be noted that the point of impact is always at the same length up along the vertical crosshair line above the center of the scope and slightly to the right.

[edit] Variants

• Victory Rifle - While identical in strength to the Sniper Rifle, the Victory Rifle has an additional 200 item HP, and knocks down targets with critical hits. However, it pays for this ability with a reduced crit chance, 3.
• Reservist's Rifle - Also identical to the Sniper Rifle in strength, the Reservist's Rifle uses less AP to fire, but only holds 3 rounds in a magazine.

[edit] Notes

• Underneath the barrel there is a monopod, but it cannot be used.

• Every shot from a Sniper Rifle decreases its value by 5 Bottle caps (Fallout 3) 

• Even without Bloody Mess, sniper rifles can result in some fantastically gory kills, usually with the enemy's skull exploding. Weaker enemies frequently have several limbs blown off or are even reduced to mulch by a single shot.

• A Sniper Rifle with ridiculously high durability can be obtained through a glitch with the Operation: Anchorage add-on. See Operation: Anchorage glitches for details.

• Fallout 3's combat issues also extend to the Sniper Rifle. Please see the combat section in the bugs page and consider the pros and cons of the Sniper Rifle and the Lincoln's Repeater.

[edit] Locations

• The most reliable source is the Bethesda Ruins. Every few days the Raiders there respawn, and there is a Raider on a platform near the fast travel insertion point carrying a sniper rifle.
• The Hollowed-Out Rock south of Megaton is easy to reach very early in the game.
• On the bridge/overpass exactly North of Vault 101, South of Big Town, on the third raider from beginning of the bridge. This raider respawns and is very reliable.
• Behind Arlington Library, in Talon Company Outpost; respawns with merc.
• The southeast guard platform of Fort Bannister.
• Shooting range of the National Guard Depot in one of the lanes.
• If you accept the quest You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head from Mister Crowley in the Underworld he will supply you with one.
• Arkansas, found in the town of Minefield.
• Allistair Tenpenny of Tenpenny Tower. You can kill him while he's on the balcony of the top floor of his building or once he goes inside (you gain karma for killing him but you are heavily advised to kill him outside, and if you kill the guard and the other people upstairs, no one downstairs will know you murdered them).
• Knight Captain Dusk of the Brotherhood of Steel
• The second floor of a ruined house near Hubris Comics along with some ammo and a skill book. (When facing the park in front of Hubris, it is the last building to the right.)
• In Georgetown, on the top story of a building across the road from a Missile Launcher wielding Super Mutant.
• In the elevated shack to the south of Warrington Trainyard, along with some .308 ammo.
• In Mama Dolce's you may find one or two on Chinese Remnant soldiers.
• Wheaton Armory has two sniper rifles in the missile silo behind a Very Hard Door.
• In Seward Square you will find a Talon sniper on a connecting bridge between an Office block and a Metro Station building. Check local map for Office entrance.
• L'Enfant Plaza in a makeshift camp under a partially collapsed overpass east of the plaza.
• There are also many Raider corpses with a few .308 rounds and rifles in various corners of the Deathclaw Sanctuary.
• In Old Olney Underground in a fenced off area along with an average locked safe, behind some pipes along with some .308 rounds.
• In The Capitol Building, there is a Talon Company merc on a balcony shooting at you.
• In Take it Back!, while escorting Liberty Prime there are several brotherhood of steel initiates and paladins (in power armor) using sniper rifles, there's roughly three of them but you have to wait for them to be killed or kill them yourself
• In the Point Lookout add-on almost every Smuggler group has atleast one smuggler carrying a Sniper Rifle.
• In the Damp Cave section of Oasis.
• Sold by Gustavo or Michael Masters, occasionally.
• Sold by Flak 'N Shrapnel's, occasionally.
• Sold by Moira, rarely.
• Sold by Knight Captain Durga, occasionally.
• Sold by Sydney in Underworld after Stealing Independence, occasionally.
• Sold by Lucky Harith after fully investing, occasionally.
• Sold by Pronto after completing the Economics of Violence, occasionally.
• Sold by Seagrave Holmes, rarely.

[edit] Fallout Tactics

Weapon Sniper Rifle damage: 14 - 34 damage type: Normal ammo Type 7.62mm ammo capacity: 6 min. Strength: 5 hands req.: 2 weight: 8 pounds cost: n/a

	The following is based on Fallout Tactics and some details might contradict canon.

Originally .308, this one is chambered in the more common 7.62mm caliber^[1].

[edit] Notes

• The Tactics rifle, while described as a DKS-501, looks like a Heckler & Koch MSG90, which also makes its appearance anachronistic.

• It is unclear which specific 7.62mm caliber this weapon could refer to (there are dozens); It may possibly be referring to the Soviet 7.62x39mm round, but given the pervasive propaganda-fueled antipathy towards anything Communist in pre-war America, this is unlikely. It is more likely a reference to either the 30-06 Springfield US Army cartridge for both World Wars and Korea, known as the 7.62x63mm in metric measurement or the .30 Carbine, used in the M1, M2 and M3 Carbines. Sometimes called the 7.62x33mm.

• .308 winchester shares the same projectile and casing dimensions as NATO 7.62x51mm.

[edit] Appearances

The Sniper Rifle is a weapon appearing, in various forms, in Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3 and Fallout Tactics.

[edit] Notes and references

1. ↑ Apparently, the makers of Fallout Tactics were not aware of the fact that .308 is the same caliber as 7.62mm, just in inches. By .308, they probably mean 7.62 × 51 mm NATO (as the commercial version is widely known as .308 Winchester) and by 7.62mm, they probably meant 7.62 x 39 mm, but it should have been specified anyway