Railway Rifle (Fallout 3)

The Railway Rifle is a craftable weapon in Fallout 3, made from a crutch that comprises the stock and grip part of the gun, a Pressure Cooker that acts as a firing chamber, a Fission Battery that acts as the firing pin and a Steam Gauge Assembly that comprises the grip, ammo storage and barrel of the gun.

Building
See Schematics - Railway Rifle.

Characteristics

 * The Railway Rifle falls into the Small Guns category.
 * When fired it makes the sound of a steam whistle.
 * The gun fires Railway Spikes. Though only moderately damaging, it is very effective at dealing limb damage, able to cripple limbs with one shot. On the killing shot, a spike may tear off the struck body part, and possibly pin it to a wall if there are any close enough.
 * The Railway Rifle has a deceptively low DAM stat, and has moderate accuracy (better than Assault Rifles, lower than Hunting Rifles). However, its shots have a lower velocity than bullets, making it more effective at short to medium ranges, and most effective in V.A.T.S. where its limb-destroying effects can be put to precision use. It has a high critical multiplier stat that, depending on your base critical chance, may make the Railway Rifle one of the best non unique small guns. Firing the railway rifle near walls, or in confined areas give it extra damage, due to the theory that if you fire it in an open area the spike will have nothing to burrow into, thus making the limbs less likely to rip off, but as soon as the spike touches the wall behind it it will cause pull upon the limb thus creating more damage, possibly ripping it off.

Locations

 * Laszlo Radford uses the Railway Rifle, he is a random encounter who may be found at certain "random encounter" locations throughout the Wasteland.
 * At Lvl 18+ you have a 2% chance of encountering a Talon Company Merc carrying a Railway Rifle.

Appearances
Railway Rifle appears only in Fallout 3.

Trivia

 * Seagrave Holmes's computer terminal in Rivet City contains an entry about his failure to create a weapon that fires Railway Spikes. The entry describes his attempts at using rubber bands as a propulsion system, and possibility of making his contraption steam-powered.

Glitches

 * In the XBOX 360 version, equipping a companion with the Railway Rifle may cause the game to freeze during battles frequently.


 * The Railway Rifle causes freezing usually when attacking two or more targets in V.A.T.S.


 * Also after reloading a save any body part will disappear leaving the railway spikes(ps3)


 * The railway spikes can be used to determine the location of invisible barriers surrounding open map areas such as Megaton, for instance firing a shot from outside Jericho's house (at a point) between two protruding pieces of metal on the outer wall where sky is visible and then examining the 'impact site' you can clearly see the railway spikes impaling thin air. Firing a spike into a closed door and then opening the door will have the spike remain its original position.(xbox 360/PC)


 * It has been observed by multiple players on different consoles that using the Railway Rifle, especially with VATS can result in freezing. It is thought that this happens when the player scores a critical hit on a headshot. Bethesda has since announced that this was fixed in the Fallout_3_patch_1.1