BB Gun (Fallout 3)

In Fallout 3, you receive this on your 10th birthday.

Characteristics
This gun is the one of the least-damaging weapons in the game, tied with the Chinese Pistol. Almost every weapon in the game, except the pool cue, rolling pin and mesmetron, are more damaging. If you find one, it is best to sell it. Note that this weapon is also silent, which might give it a limited use on easy difficulty.

Another use for for this weapon since it is considered a silenced weapon is for luring. If you have a high sneak (night-time is much easier) and find yourself between two incompatible enemies you can shoot at each of them, draw them toward you while you stay hidden. When they see each other they will attack each other. Hint: Make sure to sneak off to another spot (or use a Chinese steath suit or Stealthboy) after you lure them or they will see you and a free-for-all will happen.

Since the gun is considered silenced, a use for it is killing pesky radroaches without giving away your position in an area that may also contain much more difficult enemies such as protectrons, super mutants, raiders, etc. These places include L.O.B Enterprises, Springvale School, Nuka-Cola Factory, Germantown Police HQ, and many more similar locations.

You can also buy this BB Gun later on in the game, particularly at Rivet City, along with ammo. It may serve a limited purpose at whittling down enemies as they close in early on in the game, making a melee fight slightly easier. It can also be used to shoot mines, albeit it takes a few shots to blow up one. A shot might make a mine flip, which can make it easier to disarm.

With the Point Lookout DLC perks the damage of this weapon is raised to 14. This can become a useful replacement for the pistol, because it weighs 2 to the pistols 3 and has a magazine with a capacity of 100 BBs. The trade-off is its slower rate of fire, but you most likely will never need to reload this weapon in the midst of combat.

The BB gun can fire 409 BBs, or about 4 magazines, before breaking.

Escaping Vault 101
Having limited practical use out in the Wasteland, where BB ammo is very scarce, this makes the BB Gun primarily a sentimental object, as it does less damage than the handgun available from Amata and has a high AP cost. The BB gun can be used effectively when escaping Vault 101, allowing you to conserve all of your significantly more effective 10mm rounds for use in the Wasteland.

During the escape from Vault 101, the gun and 50 BB's can be collected from your desk. You can offer it to Butch DeLoria to fight off the radroaches attacking his mother (although if his mother dies, he will no longer initiate conversation with you and you will be unable to retrieve your BB gun without killing him). A well-aimed stealth strike on a radroach's head will usually kill it in one shot, and you can also take down Vault Security guards with the BB gun, sometimes leading to some rather comical slow-motion sequences. The BB gun can be dropped right before exiting Vault 101, unless you would prefer to sell it, or retain it as a keepsake.

Locations

 * On the roof of the VAPL-58 Power Station is a gun and 13-22 BBs.
 * Northwest from the Scrapyard, there is a power station. The first power pylon south of it (near a skeleton in a chair) has a gun and 2 BBs, as well as a Nuka-Cola Quantum.
 * Dukov's Place: A gun (but no ammo) can be found on the 2nd floor in the southern corridor.
 * Big Town: In the possession of Kimba.
 * A gun may be bought from Smiling Jack.
 * Available for purchase at most gun stores.
 * Lucky Harith may also carry these in stock after investing in him.
 * BB guns and ammo are readily available at the Citadel Armory.
 * On the lower level of Bailey's Crossroads Metro, there is a gun with 75 BBs at the makeshift range.
 * One can be bought from Chief Gustavo, the security chief in Tenpenny Tower.
 * The Scrapper Swampfolk in Point Lookout often carry BB guns and its ammo.
 * Two can be found outside Haley's Hardware.
 * In the Cargo Hold on Mothership Zeta.

Variants

 * Black Bart's Bane - A unique BB Gun that was cut from the final game.


 * The version received on your 10th birthday is technically different than the standard BB Gun. It has a higher item health (1,000), a much faster rate of fire, no chance for a critical hit, and does not degrade with use.  It is also a Quest item, meaning that it cannot be dropped.  There is no way to obtain this version of the weapon outside of Growing Up Fast, except through the use of console commands.