Anti-Materiel Rifle (Fallout: New Vegas)

"Have you seen what an anti-materiel rifle can do to a Deathclaw? That's not a firearm; it's a fucking scoped hand cannon!"

- Mojave traveler

The anti-materiel rifle is a weapon in Fallout: New Vegas.

Characteristics
The anti-materiel rifle is a bolt-action .50 caliber rifle that uses box magazines.

The rifle has a slow rate of fire resulting in a DPS of 49. Offsetting this low DPS is its high damage and very low spread. Even at high levels the rifle's high damage makes it possible to kill most enemies up to super mutants with a single round, without a sneak or critical bonus.

A strength of 8 (Or 6 with the Weapon Handling perk) and a guns skill of 100 is required to use this rifle with optimal performance. This weapon has no weapon mods available and is commonly obtainable from Gun Runners after level 16.

The weapon itself is considered to be the strongest Non-Unique rifle in the game used from mid to long range. Contrary to common belief, this weapon cannot be repaired by standard sniper rifles, even when the Jury Rigging perk is active, and must be repaired by other bolt/lever action weapons. The anti-materiel rifle is so powerful that it can actually knock characters down with a single round.

Locations

 * The anti-materiel rifle can be bought from most of the gun dealers found in the Mojave, specifically the Gun Runners.
 * The Gun Runner's kiosk has several rifles on display, including an anti-materiel rifle. However, its sealed walls prevents the player from pilfering them, and they are not guaranteed to appear in the sales inventory. Note: The displays are fake models.
 * NCR Ranger Veterans will use these when the player reaches a medium-high level. Usually the conditions of the anti-materiel rifle that are obtained from Veteran NCR Rangers are broken - very bad condition.
 * During the battle of Hoover Dam, many of Caesar's Legion use these rifles.
 * If given permission by Elder McNamara (playing through the Brotherhood of Steel quests), the rifle can be purchased from Knight Torres at the Brotherhood of Steel armory located inside their Hidden Valley bunker. The condition of the gun will be low/poor, and repairing it to full condition with Paladin Sato (Brotherhood Safehouse) will cost more than buying it at full condition from Gun Runners.

Behind The Scenes

 * Real-world Anti-materiel rifles are intended for use against enemy equipment (matériel) rather than enemy combatants (personnel) as the large, high-velocity rounds, while perfectly capable, are more powerful than necessary for use against softer personnel targets that can be easily stopped by more common and unspecialized sniper rifles. Anti-materiel rifles are employed most often against unarmoured or lightly armoured vehicles (though most modern tanks are too well armoured for the rounds) and enemy assets such as radios, as well as to eliminate un-detonated ordinance from a safe distance. As there are no vehicles that are employed in Fallout: New Vegas, the use can be modified to apply to heavily-armoured targets, as the sheer damage-per-shot of this rifle will easily surpass nearly any enemy DT, though one may consider robots to be materiel.

Appearances

 * The anti-materiel rifle only appears in Fallout: New Vegas.