Ballistic Fist

The ballistic fist is a weapon in Fallout: New Vegas.

Characteristics
The ballistic fist is a top-tier Unarmed weapon. It consists of a wrist-mounted shotgun with a pressure plate worn over the knuckles. The impact of the plate triggers the firing mechanism when a punch connects with the target.

It has the highest base damage of any Unarmed weapon in the game.

Durability
The ballistic fist can successfully strike about 395 times from full condition before breaking.

Variants

 * Two-Step Goodbye - A unique variant with additional effects.

Locations

 * Crimson Caravan Company - Can be purchased from Blake.
 * Hidden Valley bunker - Can be purchased from Torres.
 * Hoover Dam - Can be purchased from Quartermaster Bardon in the offices.
 * Mick & Ralph's - Can be purchased from Mick after convincing him (Speech 30) to show his special inventory.
 * Great Khan armory - Can be purchased from the Great Khan armorer.
 * The Fort - The Praetorian guard, Caesar's personal bodyguards, carry ballistic fists. They can be found inside Caesar's tent. The guards in the weather monitoring station also carry them.
 * Legate's camp - Carried by some Praetorian guards.

Behind the scenes
Despite firing shotgun shells upon a successful hit, the weapon does not drain 20 gauge or 12 gauge shells from the player's inventory. This is the result of an engine limitation: melee and unarmed weapons cannot be assigned an ammo type, nor set to drain them. Obsidian encountered problems attempting to implement this feature and ultimately the weapons have an invisible, infinite ammo supply.