Hey. I'm looking to start a playthrough as a regular NCR grunt taking guns, repair and medicine. I'm just wondering what would be the most reliable conventional weapon that would serve me well in all situations? Here's some I've considered.

Survivalists Rifle - Bent iron sights just kinda ruin it
Service Rifle - Can't punch through high level armour(?)
Hunting Rifle - Unreliable at close range against multiple enemies
Hunting shotgun - Can't punch through high level armour (can it with slugs?)

And help/tips are appreciated and if you wanna contradict any of my points, feel free to. I'm hardly an expert on the game.
Also, have all the DLC and planning on using light armour.

Loadout A: Anti Material Rifle - Service Rifle - 9mm w\ Hp ammo. - and its not always a bad idea to have a melee weapon just incase. Now that loadout is a fairly heavy one. Especially if you are going to Run the Ranger Armor, but very effective against all kinds of Wasteland enemies.

Loadout B: Huting Rifle, w mods and different ammo - Hunting Shotgun with slugs and magnum and\or magnum buckshot. - Gobi Desert Rifle (lockpick 100 required) and i will not spoil it unless asked to of its location. And as always a small sidearm and melee weapon

Really it comes down to how do you want to travel, light (lots of scavenging) or heavy (lots of destruction and firepower)?

Let me know man, im not by any means an expert but i have more than 250+ hours behind the controller, and mouse at this game and still play it often.

(im an NCR guy myself if you check my first post im in the works on a fallout sleeve tattoo)

Planning on travelling as light as possible.
Really just wondering if there's a gun that covers all the bases.

- manageable spread for long range
- semi decent rate of fire for groups of enemies and close range
- can punch through high DT targets (even if it requires gun mods, special ammunition)

Basically a gun you can rely on in any situation, jack of all trades, master of none. Does it exist? Killing high DT targets seems to be the hardest base to cover, seems when you start hitting lvl 20 - 25 some enemies require either sniper rifles, explosives or 800 rounds of ammunition to kill.

Was thinking maybe the Assault Carbine, seems relatively versatile and 5mm pierces armour by default. Only downside is the GRA version isn't effected by the Grunt perk.

Seems the GRA Assault Carbine does around 15 DAM pet round (with all perks) and 5mm ammunition ignored 10 DT by default. Will I be encountering anything with armour higher than that?

All American

A Light Shining in the Darkness

Survivalist Rifle (even if you can't figure out the iron sights, it still shines in VATS. The iron sights aren't that bad though if you practice, the tip of the right front post is the aim point)

Assault Carbine (GRA) fully modded is a beast of a weapon that laughs in the face of armor

Early on, I'd stick with the service rifle. With AP ammo it's decent against everything that isn't power armor or has oodles of health (deathclaws), and its mods make it pretty good in general. It also looks very grunty, and benefits from the grunt perk. The service rifle is plenty powerful enough for most things, except for high level DLC enemies (roboscorps, divide deathclaws, tunnelers, etc).

Later on, the All American is a very good choice, as it's also affected by grunt and has more damage than the SR, more ammo, and a greater ROF. Also scope. With AP ammo, it is more than up to tackling everything except the toughest deathclaws. And even those fall if you're careful not to get overwhelmed and you're fast on the trigger.

If you're a high STR grunt, then the LMG with expanded drum mags is wonderful. It has the ROF and damage to make mincemeat of most everything if you use the right ammo, and it's also affected by grunt. Sadly it's really a close range weapon due to spread.

Beyond those, I'd carry a good handgun. I'm partial to a Light Shining in Darkness for this, though the generic .45 handgun works too. High damage, good crit, and affected by grunt. Maybe carry a knife too like Chance's knife or a combat knife, in case you run out of bullets. .45 ammo is pretty common, so I see little reason to go for a piddly 9mm handgun unless you can't get a .45 one.

The assault carbine is good, but the superior GRA version doesn't benefit from the grunt perk, so it's probably not a good choice compared to the All American, even though the GRA AC with AP ammo laughs even at power armor.

Survivalist's Rifle. It can beat most armor, it's decently accurate at distance, and it's a beast with Steady. I'm not sure if Grunt or any other DAM boosting perk affects it, though. What I do know is that it's DPS becomes insane with Rushing Water. I personally found no problem aiming it with the iron sights. There are only three weaknesses to the Survivalist's Rifle: Expensive ammunition, no AP bullets, and a ten-shot magazine.

All-American: Another all-purpose rifle, All-American has the advantages of 5.56mm weapons(both HP& AP ammo, + the mighty .223, plenty of repair parts with Jury-rigging) and is an endgame weapon affected by Rushing Water, Grunt, and Fast Shot. In my experience, All-American can be used to beat just about anything.

Maria: Just keep this weapon on you, ok? Particularly if you're playing on a PC and have WMX installed. It's an awesome back-up to have in most situations. I know most people prefer "A Light in Shining Darkness" for the back-up slot, but Maria always seems to perform better to me.

Melee: Recompense of the Fallen is probably your best choice for it's significant power and lack of standards. If you want to put points into your melee back-up, though, Chance's Knife and Love and Hate are both low weight, low maintenance weapons.

Explosive: Always keep a couple grenades and mines on you. Frags are your best choice unless you put points into explosives.

Also: If you build your character right, the CZ57 Avenger can beat absolutely anything in the game. However, that weapon has more of a "Brotherhood/Enclave/The Master" feel than it has an "NCR" feel.

-Nukeknockout

I now consider the fully modded Hunting Rifle to be the best overall sniper in the game. It has the highest accuracy of any gun and it's incredibly durable.

Whilst sitting here playing...i just realized...the Ripper is pretty brutal no matter what...although its more legion way, why not drop their own hammer on them....just as a melee option...but im with these guys.

But the Gobi Desert Rfle is the lightest with the most "pack-a-punch" at aprox: 4.5w. (.308 ammo)

..but def lots of good ideas here...The All American...def a good choice, difficut to get, but good gun.

The All American is about as versatile as it gets, the only thing that I don't like about it is you can't handle swarms of armored enemies because it doesn't have the damager per shot to punch through. BUT BUT BUT you could always get A Light Shining in Darkness as a backup weapon to handle enemies like that, for the most part it can take down anything with a few head shots and it gets even deadlier with better criticals.

For all situations? Battle Rifle.

I'm a Cowboy, not a Grunt: Mysterious Magnum, Tomahawks, and Dynamite will solve any problem.

When I was doing a general purpose ground-pounder I had a .45 Auto Pistol on my hip and a Service Rifle in my hand. Sacrifice "zomg wtf bbq one shot" damage for theme but in the end, theme is more fun.

Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner. This weapon fits the OP's 3 criteria perfectly. Even better, get the unique.


-Gunny

I use Survivalist's Rifle, with Grunt it does 65 DAM and 250+ DPS, and the sight is incredibly easy to use, just use the top of the right sight post (You know, the one thats now dead in the middle from the bend, if anything its better than most sights), It kills deathclaws in a second so I highly suggest it.

No joke, thats actually what playthrough I'm doing now. I'm not sure exactly what guns could be best but I've found .45 SMGs, The Surivalist Rifle, A Light in Shining Darkness, and Maria to be extremely reliable. For late game I'm going for the CZ7 (Whatever) Miningun, Bozar, and a Riot Shotgun as well as probably the All American or something other then the Minigun.

Also, I took both Cowboy and Grunt since there are way too many perk slots and not enough I want...

The only thing with the GRA Assault carbine is that its not effected by the grunt perk. So i've been using the standard AC with the hand load ammo from the GRA DLC.

The Light Machine Gun with armor piercing rounds is a beast too. I was mowing down the Legion in the finish mission of my NCR playthrough at Hover Dam. I switched to the Alien Blaster for the final Legion guy though.

As mentioned, Survivalist Rifle is awesome in VATS and so is A Light In Shining Darkness as your pistol. Those with the grunt perk, pack a nice punch. I never have a load out with either a Ranger Sequoia or Brush Gun either. Hand load .45-70 ammo packs a mean punch.

I haven't played with the All American enough, so that is on my list of things to do on my upcoming character. Just wish it was easy to find a ton of 5.56mm AP rounds.

Alright thanks guys. Went with the Survivalists Rifle and Light in Shining Darkness.

The LSD seems a lot more satisfying to use though and is capable of taking down pretty much anything... maybe I'll make a gunslinger instead.

Gah I'm so indecisive. I recently got all the DLC so have been trying to decide what my main character should be that I'll do everything with. Problem is my character has to have a trait, aka. a cowboy, grunt, tribal, sniper, ninja, laser commando, trapper, ect. Only problem is restricting yourself to such character rules seems to leave you struggling against tougher opponents.

Anyway I'm trailing. Thanks again for all the helpful comments.

I'm playing a Grunt (grunt weapon list only) dead is dead character right now, just about to go to the final battle. Made it through all the dlcs and just about every quest from an NCR angle. While some of the lower tier weapons can leave you a little under gunned (I'm looking at you All-American), the .45 caliber weapons and trusty old Thump-Thump are real winners. So it's possible to play a grunt restricted character without even dying once all the way to the end. Plus, if you play an NCR grunt, you get the largest ammount of quest lines.

-gunny

Hunting rifle and my beloved assault carbine

Cheers
-Daniels

This Machine ?

No, That Gun.

If you're looking for one gun to do it all, I'd recommend an Assault Carbine. Unlike the Battle Rifle, it's easily endgame-viable, can take down anything and the ammo is cheap and plentiful.

Best gun for the Grunt perk? Dear god man, get a Marksman Carbine! It's a fast semi auto fire, a very good scope, plentiful ammo and is pretty sturdy as well.

Thats what I said This Machine

Which gun?

First base .