I noticed this too and tried to give Boone a gun, any gun! lol
I thought well I'm SOL now because he has been keeping my character alive...
Boone is awesome with that sniper he killed like 5 or 6 deathclaws which would have toasted me for sure... lol
It wasn't until we got into another firefight and 'magically' his sniper was back on his shoulder... huh?
I looked in his inventory and it was not there... odd...
But now for some reason Boone isn't following me anymore... he is with me when I enter new areas, but he just
stands at the entrance and won't follow... I've tried telling him to wait and then follow me again and that does not
work he just stands there, or he'll go running away somewhere else and then he's gone.... strange...
I'm afraid to go into new areas without him wondering if I am going to
have to fight more deathclaws and end up getting killed because my armor is pathetically weak and my guns do almost
nil damage, even after shooting them 10 or more times they still kill me... lol
M
Try dismissing him back to Novac, and then pick him up again - worked for me.
Also, I think Fallout:NV is better than fallout 3 gameplay/story wise - but i'm lucky - i have only experienced one freeze.
I remember Fallout 3 freezing on me too, soeh yeah. Fix this freezing stuff and then you've created my fav. game OF ALL TIME!