I'm new to FONV and on my first playthrough, currently lvl 20. I'm all about guns, cowboy style, but am having some trouble picking the best ones. I really want to narrow it down to the best sidearm, and the best rifle.

I'm currently sporting these sidearms:
Lucky (LOVE the look and the low AP consumption)
.44 Magnum modded (Looks supersweet, but I haven't found the scope yet)
Hunting Revolver
And soon the Ranger Sequoia (once I've completed the NCR quest for it).

And these rifles for medium-long range:
Hunting Rifle fully modded (my favorite so far)
This Machine (hard to hit anything I feel)
Trail carbine unmodded, but looking for the scope. Think this could be the winner.
Brush Gun (again, hard to aim due to the metal sight)
Ratslayer, but it's not powerful enough, obviously.

I really like Lucky because of the low AP, but it's not that powerful. I'm afraid I won't have enough 0.45-70 Gov't rounds for the Ranger and Hunting revolvers if I decide to usethe Brush Gun, which leaves a fully modded 0.44 Magnum.

As for the rifles, I really want something with a scope as I have to shoot at least twice to hit the target at long range with the metal sights, which unfortunately makes the Brush Gun a hard choice, although it totally rocks on all other levels.

What are you guys' experiences and favorites?

Use anything listed in the "Cowboy" perk.

From the wiki, heres a list...



As for my favorite from each category:

Explosive:Firebomb
Melee: Bowie Knife/Blood Nap(Unique Bowie Knife)
Main Gun:La Longue Carabine,
Sidearm: Mysterious Magnum

Yeah, I'm familiar with the Wiki, all the guns available and the Cowboy perk. That wasn't my question, though. I'm trying to narrow down my selection based on more than facts. Like, which weapons do people like better, modded or unmodded, etc. Obviously considering all things like ammo availability, speed, reload times etc. listed on the wiki is easy enough. That's just comparing facts.

Edit: What do you like about La Longue Carabine? I don't have that one yet. Isn't it basically a Cowboy Repeater?

It's a scoped Cowboy Repeater. Here are the comparisons:


Cowboy Repeater: DMG-32, DPS-54, Spread- .6, Crit Multiplyer- 1.25, Base Mag-7, Durability: 595 shots
La Longue Carabine: DMG-35, DPS-75, Spread- .5, Crit Multiplyer- 1.5, Base Mag-11, Durability: 745 shots

+the Cowboy repeater cant be scoped.

To get it,