Hi all - I was wondering what benefit it is to keep weapon mods? I don't "carry" them in my inventory because they're 0.5 lbs each. But is there a reason to NOT sell them to vendors after you've done the modding to the weapon? I haven't been able to figure out a benefit to hanging on to them.

TIA

i drop them off at my main settlement so if i find something good on a random drop i can freely drop in a standard mod and move the nice one to a useable weapon. this also lets you get access to high level mods early on in the game.

I keep some of the standard weapon mods around, because for instance, I find an advanced .44 revolver and I'm using a powerful .44. Now, I want the advanced receiver from the gun I found, because I can't make it (need a higher gun nut perk level). So, I switch the advance receiver out with a standard one that I have laying around. That means I don't have to waste any materials crafting the standard receiver. Now, I can attach the advanced receiver to my current gun and then I have a powerful receiver mod, which might be useful later on.

If I see that I keep mods around for a while, I just sell them to a trader/merchant.

Sometimes I'll throw my old mods onto the weapons of my settlement guards and provisioners, but otherwise, I just sell them.

I've yet to find a higher level mod of something I want that I can't make myself yet. (Though I do tend to get the Gun Nut perks as soon as I'm able, so there is less chance of it.)

This exactly.

Put them in the workbench, you can re-attach mods you have made instead of needing to build it again so I find it useful if I have a .38 mod I can put on a hunting rifle or change back to .308 whenever I want, along with different scopes I can change out when I go to my bench.

yeah, being able to replace upgraded parts with basic parts so you can free them up to use in another weapon is one reason to keep old mods (seems odd though, why can't you just disassemble a gun into in parts? ah well, maybe something for a mod to do) useful if you want if you have two different items with two different mods and want to merge them.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. You all shed lot of light on something I didn't understand or appreciate very well!

right? I would love to have a .44 receiver with a hunting rifle barrel and stock, would be a very powerful 6 shooter rifle.

What to do with Mods:

• Keep a few of the standard / lower ones in your main weapon/armor modding workbench for weapons you use the most (per above). This lets you remove better mods at no cost to add to your personal arsenal. Keep an eye out for weapons that have mods you want but can't yet build and you can swap mods and then add the high end ones to your kit.
• Keep a few of the better mods for weapons you dole out to settlers (that use ammo you have WAY too much of). Don't forget to pass down mods you replace off your personal stuff to the Settler equipment.
• Use the extra to drop and store to reduce your build SIZE meter.
• Put some of the mid level ones on crap weapons to increase their sell value. Note that you can get more components from scrapping weapons by putting better mods on them (scrapper perk required...I think).
• Sell rest to merchants.

Scrapper indeed required for that second to last one.

I stick them in my workbenches to get them in my commonwealth wide logistic network. If I drop a suppressor mod off in sanctuary I can pull it out and apply it in Jamaica Plain later.

I wish we could junk/scrap them.

You can put it on a weapon and scrap it for more than you'd get without it. Lot of work for a couple screws and bits of aluminum though. I carry the jetpack mod with me if I'm not using it in case i feel like switching at one of those random scattered PA stations. I never do and can fast travel back to my HQ easier than finding one of those but the idea is sound. You could also carry a scope or night vision scope to switch out. Weapon modding stations are fairly common in the wild.