Gauss Rifle

Gauss Rifles are hand-held weapons utilizing electromagnetic coils to propel metal slugs at extremely high velocities.

While in Fallout 2 the Gauss Rifle uses the Small Guns skill, it uses the Energy Weapons skill in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.

M72 Gauss Rifle


The M72 Gauss Rifle is a weapon of German design. It uses 2mm EC magazines containing both batteries and ammunition. In 2241, it was often used by Enclave soldiers.

Scoped Gauss Rifle


The Scoped Gauss Rifle is an advanced sniper rifle used during the invasion of Alaska. Unlike the M72, this gun requires the user to load in the Microfusion cells needed to magnetize each preloaded 2mm round contained in the magazine attached to the side of the weapon. In Fallout: New Vegas, if a file is saved while in scope mode of the gauss rfle, when the save is reloaded, it will show the scope but also the normal view of either 3rd person or 1st person. This glitch can be fixed by changing weapons with hotkeys, going into the Pip-Boy 3000, or by scoping the gauss rifle again.

Enhanced Gauss Rifle
An enhanced version of the M72 model.

Beta Gauss Rifle


The Beta Gauss Rifle is a beta version of the Scoped Gauss Rifle that uses the model of a laser rifle and features a five round magazine. It only does about 25% of the damage of the final version, but has a 100% knock-down chance. It is only obtainable through console commands.

Behind the scenes
The Gauss Rifle (aka Coilgun) is a device used to propel a ferromagnetic projectile by accelerating them through a process of magnet induction. The Gauss Rifle (and Gauss gun) are named after German scientist Carl Friedrich Gauss, who formulated mathematical descriptions of the magnetic effect used by magnetic accelerators.

Gallery
Karabin Gaussa M72