BEST Sniper Rifle in Fallout 4

I know about the plasma rifle talking normal bullet sniper rifle??

Which sniper rifle is the best?

A player’s choice of sniping weapon is going to fall into a matter of personal taste and needs. I personally use the Pipe Bolt Action Rifle as my sniping weapon of choice most of the time. but I will try to pin point the good and bad aspects of a few weapons I’ve tried out. Bear in mind, this is my opinion only, and your choice of sniping weapon is, in the end, your choice.

These rules apply to the text that follows: This assumes that you can mod your preferred weapon to your tastes, and it excludes all legendary weapons of all kinds.

Your main choices for sniper weapons will be the Pipe Bolt Action Rifle, Hunting Rifle, Combat Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Laser Rifle, and Laser Musket. (This list is not all inclusive, as I am not sure there are not other legitimate options later down the game road)

First, the pros and cons.

Pros

Combat Rifle: Sixth in power. Semi automatic, uses .45 rounds early on, and can be modded later to use .308 rounds. Pretty quick fire rate, can be suppressed, and has a large magazine capacity.

Hunting Rifle: Fourth in power. Uses .308 rounds, can be modded later to use .50 cal rounds and can be geared with a silencer, has lots of mod options, and pretty much is an all around decent sniper choice.

Laser Musket: First in power when cranked to max (assuming you’re using a three crank or more mod). Uses fusion cells, fairly easy to gain the perks needed to mod out this weapon. To further power the shot coming from this weapon, crank it till it stops cranking.

Laser Rifle: third most powerful. Accurate, lots of mod options, uses fusion cells, is one of the lightest sniping weapons on this list, and fires rapidly for a sniping weapon, allowing you to pick off other nearby targets before they get into cover.

Pipe Bolt Action Rifle: fifth in power. Uses .308 rounds, can be modded later to use .50 cal rounds, and can be equipped with a suppressor, and has a good assortment of mods that can be gained cheaply early on through the gun nut perk, and is one of the lightest options in this list.

Plasma Rifle: second in power. Fast fire rate, Innate plasma burning effect (needs verification), accurate, lots of mods, and is the lightest sniping weapon on this list.

Cons

Now, the Cons.

Combat Rifle: Very heavy, high requirements to mod out properly, loads .45 rounds early on, requires a mod to fire .308 rounds, and the lowest per shot damage of the sniping weapons listed here.

Hunting Rifle: Heavy when fully modded, even with a light frame mod,and the fire rate is what you’d expect from a bolt action weapon. Properly modding this weapon requires higher level perks.

Laser Musket: You get one shot. That’s it. After that, you have to crank the weapon again. Not a terrible thing, considering that your first well placed shot should easily terminate your target, but it doesn’t help making those follow up shots. Also, the weapon cannot be suppressed and gives your position away. The musket is also pretty heavy, weighing in around 20+ pounds after modding.

Laser Rifle: Cannot be suppressed in any way.

Pipe Bolt Action Rifle: Aesthetically speaking, it looks like en elongated piece of crap. Fire rate is abysmal, slower than even the Hunting Rifle, so follow up shots are not usually feasible.

Plasma Rifle: Cannot be suppressed in any way.

My Sniping weapon of choice for most situations: The Pipe Bolt Action Sniper Rifle.

Reasons: Though it looks like crap, it is the lightest sniping weapon that can be suppressed. When sniping, I plan out one well placed shot into someone’s head, then back off if I can to wait for my next opportunity, so I don’t often need to worry about follow up shots most of the time. Fully modded, the Pipe Bolt action isn’t that far behind the Hunting rifle (only about 5 points difference) while saving around 10 pounds of weight (I tend to pack rat a bit, which mainly revolves around a few extra guns).

The weight I save allows me to carry a few choice back up weapons in case I end up in a pinch, and to pick up a few extra odds and ends here and there for my budding community. For those situations I feel I need some serious raw sniping damage, I turn to the Laser Musket. I don’t carry it around typically though, because it weighs so much (and I have a habit of making low strength characters in the fallout series).

Original Link – Continuation of discussion