Hunting Rifle (Fallout 3)

The Hunting Rifle is a weapon in Fallout 3.

Gameplay
The Hunting Rifle is a very accurate weapon and has the best zoom of the non-scoped weapons. The Hunting Rifle's spread can make the weapon hard to use for sniping at long ranges without V.A.T.S. A skilled player can use this weapon to great effect in most situations, even close-quarters combat inside buildings. The rifle is commonly found in the wasteland, facilitating repairs or replacement.

While the Hunting Rifle is depicted as a very accurate weapon, the in-game weapon model does not have rear or front sights, nor does it have a scope. While this means very little in-game as unscoped weapons in Fallout 3 don't use iron sights, in reality, this would make the weapon extremely difficult to aim at longer ranges and would render it almost worthless beyond close-range encounters, even to a skilled marksman.

Durability
Despite its distressed appearance, with its stock splitting, only held together with duct tape and wire, and a barrel and receiver that are heavily rusted and scratched, the hunting rifle can fire a total of about 667 rounds, the equivalent of 134 reloads, from full condition before breaking.

Variants

 * Ol' Painless - More powerful variant of the Hunting Rifle that has a higher fire rate and deals more damage, but is less durable.
 * Lincoln's Repeater - While strictly a Lever-Action Rifle (Point Lookout)Lever-Action Rifle that uses .44 Magnum Rounds, Lincoln's Repeater is only repairable with Hunting Rifles. It is a very powerful and accurate weapon.

Locations

 * Lucas Simms' house has a damaged rifle sitting on a shelf in a room upstairs. The door requires a Lockpick skill of 50, you can pickpocket the house key from Lucas Simms, or you can use an empty, upturned metal barrel (carried to and placed near the Water processing plant railing) to jump onto Lucas Simms' roof and enter his house via the roof hatch (which is never locked) to his lookout point. The rifle must be stolen.
 * Just west of Vault 101 is an old barn with a random encounter spawn point located inside. Going up the stairs in the barn will reveal a Hunting Rifle and .32 ammunition next to a skeleton and a Ham Radio.
 * There is a damaged rifle behind Springvale School among a pile of nuclear waste barrels (in a fenced-in area with a locked gate).
 * In one of the abandoned houses in Grayditch, there is a hunting rifle leaning against a shelf.
 * One can be found in Citadel B ring (in the room "Barracks") or bought in the armory.
 * The vast majority of regular Super Mutants use this weapon exclusively.
 * The Hunting Rifle can also be found on low level Raiders.
 * Most random encounter hunters carry this weapon.
 * Hannibal Hamlin carries this rifle prior to completing the quest Head of State.
 * The escaped slaves in the random encounter, Water, Water, Nowhere, carry Hunting Rifles.
 * The raider on the grain silo at the Chaste Acres Dairy Farm is typically equipped with one.
 * The Ant researcher, Dusty, Madame, Quinn, Silas, Grandma Sparkle and Stockholm all carry a Hunting Rifle.
 * The Hunting Rifle may be wielded by Point Lookout tribals.
 * The Hunting Rifle can be wielded by swampfolk.

Bugs

 * A gun model glitch may sometimes occur when killing an enemy as they are reloading, causing the bolt of the gun to float above the rifle.
 * Sometimes the gun might glitch in 3rd Person mode, where the gun will appear on the ground, where one last stepped. The player character will be holding nothing until the game is rebooted.
 * Sometimes the gun will stay on the player character's back when drawn. It will look like the player character is holding nothing, but they can still shoot and see the weapon flash. This may occur on enemies as well, especially on wildmen in the Steelyard with the The Pitt add-on.