Fallout: New Vegas Weapons

Glossary

 * DMG:SHOT: This information comes straight from the G.E.C.K. and shows the damage caused by a single click of the mouse/trigger. For most small guns, that's a single bullet, but for shotguns it's a single shell (containing several small pellets), and for the Gatling Laser it's a single beam. This stat is most useful for comparing semi-automatic weapons like rifles, where you can see the full damage caused by a single shot, regardless of how long it takes to load and fire the next one.
 * DPS: This stands for damage per second, although it shows damage done in a half of a second. Note: the G.E.C.K.'s DPS calculations are misleading, Vault administration is in the process of replacing them with hand calculations verified by in-game stopwatch trials.
 * AOE RADIUS: Area of effect.
 * SPRD: This is the Min Spread stat from the G.E.C.K. (the Spread stat is not used). It refers to the accuracy of a ranged weapon. 0 means the weapon can potentially fire perfectly straight, if stance, weapon skill, and weapon condition are optimal. Anything above 0 means the shots may deviate from center by that many degrees regardless of stance, skill, or condition.
 * CRIT %MULT: The multiplier applied to your character's critical hit chance. This modifier applies to each individual attack you make (e.g. each 5mm bullet fired from your Minigun). For example, if your character has a critical hit chance of 5%, and the weapon you're using has a CRIT % MULT of x2, then each shot has a 5% x 2 = 10% chance to critically hit. For automatic weapons (assault rifles, SMGs, Miniguns, etc.) the Crit % Mult stat in the G.E.C.K. is divided by the G.E.C.K.'s Fire Rate stat, hence the very small multiplier for automatic weapons. This is done to compensate for the sheer number of bullets being fired. Note that single V.A.T.S. attack, with automatic weapons, only checks for critical hit once, applying damage bonus for all bullets in such attack if critical hit is done.
 * CRIT DMG: The amount of damage that is added when you score a critical strike. The more specialized Sneak Attack Critical deals twice the damage of a common critical strike.
 * AMMO: The type of ammunition used by the weapon.
 * MAG: The magazine capacity of the firearm. Basically, how many shots you can fire before having to reload.
 * WG: The weight of the weapon.
 * VALUE: The value of the weapon, see here for more detail.
 * V:W: Value to Weight ratio.
 * AP: The amount of Action Points used per shot/burst in V.A.T.S.
 * DMG:AP: Damage per single Action point.
 * Condition: This is the amount of health a weapon has. The lower the condition of the weapon, the lower the damage and the more chance the weapon has to jam
 * ATT REQ: Required attribute and attribute value required to wield the weapon optimally.
 * Operation: Tells if the weapon is bolt action, Semi automatic, fully automatic, or otherwise. Single Shot and Break Action means it has to be reloaded every shot unless stated otherwise.

Pistols

 * ¹ Normal holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak <50
 * ² Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥50
 * ³ Classic Pack pre-order exclusive add-on

Shotguns

 * ¹ Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥50
 * ² Caravan Pack pre-order exclusive add-on

Pistols

 * ¹ May only be acquired if the player has chosen the Wild Wasteland trait.
 * ² Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥50

Projectile

 * Area-of-Effect weapons have a Crit % Modifier of 0, which eliminates any chance to critically hit with them.
 * ¹ Mercenary Pack pre-order exclusive add-on

Thrown

 * ¹ Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥50

Placed

 * ¹ Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥50
 * ² Custom-built weapon

Bladed

 * ¹ Normal holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak <50
 * ² Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥50
 * ³ Tribal Pack pre-order exclusive add-on

Blunt

 * ¹ Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥50

Thrown

 * ¹ Normal holdout weapon: May be concealed regardless of Sneak skill

Unarmed

 * ¹ Normal holdout weapon: May be concealed regardless of Sneak skill
 * ² Improved holdout weapon: May be concealed if Sneak ≥50
 * ³ Custom-built weapon

BUGS

 * Scoped guns will occasionally display a blank "computer terminal" screen instead of the scope. This bug completely blocks the weapon's view when using the "scope". Fix for this bug is unknown. It eventually "goes away" on its own but the cause for start/end is not yet determined.
 * For weapons that use ammo it is possible to exploit the inventory system to make a full magazine only cost you a single round. To use, you need at least a magazine's worth of ammo to start with.  Start by fully loading your weapon, then drop all your ammo but 1 (or hand to a companion).  Your weapon will still have a full magazine loaded, but your remaining ammo will now be a negative number.  As long as your remaining ammo number is negative, every round you fire does not deplete the ammo in your inventory.  You can fire the entire magazine as usual, and in the end it will only have cost you a single round.  Moreover, all rounds before the last one in the magazine are ostensibly free using this exploit, so if you reload before firing the last round you can chain this exploit for unlimited free ammo.