I know it's a laser pistol, but once you mod it into a sniper rifle it's amazing. I haven't really seen any posts about this so I thought I'd share it with y'all.

Mine does 77 damage. With the bonus damage to full health enemies...

And then it being a sniper rifle and getting x2 sneak attacks...

It outpaces my fully modded Gauss Rifle. A dinky little laser pistol can become one of the best snipers in the game. Bethesda, I love you.

It's can be decent sniper rifle but ballistic weapons have the advantage of suppressors so you can use them with the sandman / ninja perks for huge sneak attack hits.

Old faithful is my default weapon since fusion cells are so abundant in this game. It works on most things very well although I have to switch to plasma for some tougher enemies. I use a silenced shotgun for indoor sneaky sneaks and the railgun for outdoor sneaky sneaks.

I've got one with 15 area explosive damage, converted to take the common .398 bullets.

Does 59 damage which so far I cannot beat with the most common bullets. Really useful in the wilderness as I save my othet bullets for the tougher enemies

The best sniper rifle in the game is probably the badboy I found recently:

Instigating Gauss Rifle (fully modded including suppresor)

Base damage with Rifleman and Bloody mess perks: 463

Sneak attack damage with Ninja, Mr. Sandman and follower perks: 590%

Instigating: double damage to enemies at full health

Sneak shot at an enemy with full health = 463 * 5.9 * 2 = 5463 dmg

I have not yet seen an enemy that would survive the first shot to the head and I am playing on Survival difficulty. If I get caught out of stealth however, shotgun or assault rifle is the way to go or the death comes swiftly (END 1).

I have a normal bolt action hunting rifle i've modded to make it a .50 cal with a silencer. It is has the special modifier of double damage when they are at full health. Only sitting at I think 88 or 89 damage though.

How about the Sniper Rifle that fires two shots for every 1 bullet?

I like Reba Mark 2, lovely gun that you can find in some basemant somewhere I forget

-- edit: oh yeah, in Salem

Two-Shot .50 Sniper rifle, with silencer and short range recon scope.

163 base damage, with 4 ranks in Rifleman, 5% extra damage with scoped rifles and 5% extra damage at night

Still got to put points in ninja/sandman, but have had my priorities elsewhere, and at the moment (level 33) not much can stand a sneak attack headshot anyway.

i can see where it would be a great sniper due to the bonus damage in the first shot. I don't use it as such because I'm a gunslinger, but it's still an awesome fun. Mine does 90 damage and is my main fallback due to having 30 shots in it and being able to rapid fire it or place shots. It's an all-around good weapon.

been noticing laser weapons dont need silencers ya know cuz their reakin lazers! they kinda make like no sound. Have missed before shooting enemies and the shot just flies by their face and they dont even notice which is legit since irl a laser would travel so fast there is no seeing it really. Think maybe it really depends on playstyle which is awesome that bethesda gave us a way to play to be lead slingers which is fun, AND also waszer wifle pros! Love using the musket but do switch it up at times to the .50 for no other reason than just because plus on survival ammo is scarce with all the enemies being bullet sponges.

True, but no silencers means no damage bonus from Mr. Sandman.