Police Pistol

The police pistol is a weapon in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Dead Money.

Characteristics
The police pistol is a double-action .357 revolver with a swing-out cylinder similar to that of a .44 magnum revolver instead of a loading gate like the .357 magnum revolver. Though it is a double-action, it is fired by the Courier in a single-action form with the hammer being cocked back after each shot to increase accuracy. In comparison to the .357 magnum, it features a shorter barrel and a worn matte black finish. It also lacks rear sights and has a shorter hammer with a flat, textured spur as opposed to the smooth, rounded spur of the .357 magnum revolver.

The police pistol shines in three key performance areas: it has a high damage output with critical hits, especially so with the Better Criticals perk; it has a fast fire rate; and, due to its swing-out cylinder, it can be reloaded quickly. It is considered a holdout weapon, and can be concealed and taken into weapon-free locations, regardless of the Courier's Sneak skill.

Durability
The police pistol can fire a total of about 1,120 standard rounds, the equivalent of 187 reloads, from full condition before breaking.

Variants

 * .357 Magnum revolver - The standard variant found throughout the Mojave Wasteland.
 * Lucky - A unique .357 revolver that can be found in a hard locked safe in the Bison Steve Hotel.

Locations

 * Puesta del Sol north - Located on the terrace overlooking a small courtyard, in the hands of a skeleton.
 * Villa - Next to a suitcase inside a ruined shop at the far east end.
 * Salida del Sol - In the hands of a skeleton, behind the counter of a store with a Sierra Madre vending machine located in front of the counter.
 * Sierra Madre Casino & Resort - One can be found in the executive suites, the Tampico, and the Sierra Madre lobby, and a few more can be found in the Sierra Madre vault, in the gun cabinet or suitcase above.
 * Villa police station - Several will randomly spawn inside containers.
 * Randomly found in gun cabinets throughout the Sierra Madre.
 * Dean's secret stashes - May also spawn police pistols.

Behind the scenes
It is loosely based on the Colt Police Positive, a gun used in the film Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which was mostly the inspiration for Dead Money.

Bugs

 * When entering V.A.T.S. with the revolver, it may be invisible during V.A.T.S. but will return to normal once V.A.T.S. is exited.
 * Sometimes in V.A.T.S., if firing multiple shots into the same limb or target, the player character will fire all the shots in exactly the same place, even if the target has moved after the first shot.
 * The police pistol lacks vertical aim in V.A.T.S. so you will be aiming as if nothing was wrong then move to the default forward-facing position when firing.
 * Furthermore, if using a third-person view, regardless of using V.A.T.S. or not, the police pistol has no vertical aim. To fix this, just change to the first-person view.
 * If loading a saved game from the main menu in which you have police pistol equipped and drawn, the reload animation takes twice as long as normal. This can be solved by simply switching to another gun and then back again.
 * When equipping the pistol or hotkey equip, instead of the pistol click sound it has a rifle shunt sound.
 * When firing it you may not pull back the hammer making it shoot two bullets at a time.
 * When firing the gun in VATS, it may keep you in iron sights after leaving VATS.
 * Sometimes it can be bought from Vendortron or Stacey at the Mojave Outpost at very early levels (1-6) before completing the Dead Money add-on.