Sniper rifle



The DKS-501 Sniper Rifle is an excellent long range projectile weapon. Originally .308, versions chambered in other calibers are also common.

Fallout and Fallout 2
Originally .308, this version is chambered in the more common .223 caliber. This rifle allows the user to do insane damage to the critical body areas, if player has the stats to back it up. The Sniper Rifle does not share the same reduction in accuracy when enemies close in as the Scoped Hunting Rifle.

The Sniper Rifle boasts good damage, max range, and ammo for it is quite common. It has two glaring flaws however - it has a small ammo capacity, and costs an extra AP to fire. This means targeted shots, although accurate, take 7 AP to fire.

Fallout Tactics
Originally .308, this one is chambered in the more common 7.62mm caliber.

Fallout 3
The rifle is an older model of the famed DKS-501. Still chambered for .308 ammunition, it's also extremely fragile and requires regular repair and maintenance to keep it in working condition.

The Sniper Rifle is much more effective when fired outside V.A.T.S. mode, as V.A.T.S. does not take into account accuracy bonuses of the weapon's scope.

Outside V.A.T.S., even at Small Guns 100, its effective range seems to be about 1/4 - 1/3 the distance you can see in the scope. Using a human target as reference, you may need to wait until your target fills at least 3/4 of the diameter of the smaller dashed circle in the scope to hit it. (It is common to get kills on Raiders who only fill half the smaller circle with an average Small Guns level. Even if you miss, you are so far away they will never see you.)

The sniper rifle has very noticeable sway to it when manually aimed. The sway can be reduced with either a higher skill level in small guns, or when in sneak mode. At 100 points in Small Guns, the scope has no sway at all, though even at 100 points in Small Guns, having either of your arms crippled will result in severe sway while using the scope.

Both images below, taken from the southwest guard platform at Fort Bannister, will be a 1-shot kill. The color of the first shot has been inverted to improve clarity.

Variants

 * Victory Rifle - While identical in strength to the Sniper Rifle, the Victory Rifle has an additional 200 item HP, and knocks down targets with critical hits. However, it pays for this ability with a reduced crit chance, 3.
 * Reservist's Rifle - Also identical to the Sniper Rifle in strength, the Reservist's Rifle uses less AP to fire, but only holds 3 rounds in a magazine.

Bugs

 * The Sniper Rifle suffers from the same flaw as the Gauss Rifle in the sense that its scope is wrongly calibrated. This means that shots have a tendency to fire slightly above the crosshair, something which becomes very apparent when firing over longer distances, leading to various mishaps, including missed head-shots on stationary targets, head-shots when aiming for the chest and chest hits when aiming for the legs. Fortunately, a certain mod can be downloaded to fix this bug.

Appearances
The Sniper Rifle is a weapon appearing, in various forms, in Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3 and Fallout Tactics.

Notes and references
Fusil d'embuscade

Karabin snajperski Снайперская винтовка