Sawed-Off Shotgun (Fallout 3)

The sawed-off shotgun is a small gun in Fallout 3.

Characteristics
The sawed-off shotgun is a double-barrel shotgun shotgun that has had its stock and part of its barrels sawed off, granting it increased mobility in return for drastically reduced range. It has two triggers, one for each barrel. The sawed-off shotgun appears to have been fitted with a pistol grip, in favor of the shortened stock-grip assembly. Rust is visible on the metallic parts of the shotgun, and a makeshift strap made out of thin sheet metal keeps the barrels and forearm together. It is a one-handed weapon and reaps the benefits of the Gunslinger perk.

This weapon has one of the largest spread of all weapons in Fallout 3, second only to the experimental MIRV. In order to get high damage, one essentially has to treat the gun like a melee weapon and fire it at point blank range so that the whole shot impacts the target.

Durability
A fully-repaired sawed-off shotgun can fire 167 shots, or 84 reloads, before breaking.

Variants

 * The Kneecapper - Carried by Ronald Laren, The Kneecapper is far more powerful than the normal sawed-off shotgun or even a combat shotgun. It is also lighter and more accurate than the regular version, but fires slightly slower and is less durable.

Locations

 * Arlington Library - In the children's wing, through the door in the media archives, on a bookshelf.
 * Megaton - In a locked cabinet inside the Megaton armory, in almost pristine condition.
 * Can be found on random characters around the Capital Wasteland, mainly raiders.
 * One in the raider camp to the southeast of Hallowed Moors Cemetery, on a small barrel.
 * One can be found together with some shotgun shells on a table at the Meresti raider's dock.
 * A wanderer, Brock, Shrapnel, Gallo, Jack Smith and Mel all use sawed-off shotguns.
 * Carried by Marguerite and Nadine, and another on the floor of room 1G in the Homestead Motel.

Behind the scenes
Mel wields a sawed-off shotgun in a random encounter in which he attempts to mug the Lone Wanderer, but the gun is not loaded. This is an homage to Mel Gibson, the actor who played Mad Max. In Mad Max 2, Max threatened the Gyro Captain using an unloaded sawed-off shotgun.

The firing sound effects for the sawed-off shotgun and various other guns in Fallout 3 were created by banging together pieces of scrap metal and other materials, where the resulting metallic "ker-chunk" effect was recorded.

Bugs
The shells are never "ejected" from the weapon. The barrel is pointed down while reloading, giving the illusion that the spent shells have fallen on the ground, but the third-person view shows that the shells are simply cleared from the barrel, without being ejected.