The Terrible Shotgun

 is a small gun that only appears in Fallout 3. It is a unique variant of the Combat Shotgun and has the highest base damage of all weapons in the Small Guns category. However its performance may be disappointing.

It is in the possession of Smiling Jack in the Evergreen Mills bazaar and can be repaired with Combat Shotguns.

Weapon characteristics

 * The Terrible Shotgun has a larger spread than normal shotguns; it does more damage if all pellets hit, but it is harder for that to happen because of its extremely low accuracy (Wide and random bullet spread pattern). The best way to use this weapon is for point blank shots. Note: Even point blank head or body shots miss. After experimenting with it all day, I can safely say that a regular combat shotgun outperforms the Terrible shotgun at all distances; the terrible shotgun really is just plain terrible.
 * This particular weapon has very little durability and tends to degrade rapidly.

Obtaining the gun from Smiling Jack

 * You can kill him (no Karma effect).
 * You can get into a fight with him and just shoot it out of his hand and pick it up before he does. Leave and come back later and he will be neutral again.
 * You can pickpocket his ammo, leave the area, save & reload and re-enter the Bazaar. The gun will then be in his inventory and can be pickpocketed (possibly a glitch).