So I usually go with sniper/rifle builds and am finally getting a little bored of that approach...not because of ease, just bored of the playstyle. Think I'm ready for a more up close and personal gun approach...still not interested in melee, heh.

In all the games I've started or savegames I've reloaded, the 12.7 has been extremely rare as a random drop for me (I don't like to kill/steal from friendly NPC's) and while I know it's possible I don't personally want to go through the entire game with the 9mm or even Maria, especially on VeryHard where my dmg. is halved or something.
Occasionally later on the Legion guys who like to ambush me drop 12.7's but not often. Looked on the wiki and all it says is the 12.7 can be bought at certain shops at "higher levels." Does anyone know what level, more specifically? 15? 18?

Also...best perks for non-revolver pistols? Or do they all apply to both equally.

Aside from silencer, 12.7mm pistol is terrible......

Other than Fast Hand and The Professional, I don't think there is any specific perk helps semi-auto pistols.

Well, I know I found 12.7 Ammunition for sale at the gunrunners around lvl 22, I hadn't seen them anywhere else before that.

Also, i'm pretty sure that any perks aimed at pistols or one handed weapons work for all one handed weapons. Except maybe the Cowboy perk which offers bonuses to just revolvers

Could you elaborate on why you think this is, please? Playing around with it on Fortification Hill seemed ok. Granted I had to be sneaky in the tent since w/my terrible real-time aim I don't think it would handle the mass of Guards, but being sneaky is fine with me.

It is terrible because you can't sneak it in casinos, spread too much for stealth kill and no Handloaded rounds.

You can get the 12.7 pistol at the gun-runners, i'm level 17 on my 4th playthrough and they have it.

The pistol is pretty powerful, it's more of a 'fun' gun than a 'smart' gun in my opinion. I take it when I'm screwing around, if you want a very good pistol try taking one of the revolvers with cowboy. The Ranger Sequioa is a beast with the SWC Handloader ammuniton and cowboy.

You can handload 12.7 rounds... Although I think you need Dead Money to do so...

Well, I don't hand craft ammo anyway so that aspect doesn't bother me. I did notice the spread/less accurate but figured it was just me, lol. I can't sneak rifles into casino's either so I'm used to that...


I know they're more powerful/better overall weapons, but I wanted a non-revolver character precisely because pistols aren't as strong.

So, most perks will probably work fine with pistol-only, and I probably won't see the 12.7 until lvl 18-20+....that helps, thanks guys. (p.s., on PC, no Dead Money)

Damn. What is the best silenced pistol then ? I may try and get a silenced smg in, I just need a silent close up weapon, with good damage that can be sneaked into casinos.

I like the 12.7mm Pistol, first time I saw it I was being hunted down by legionaries and I was like "What a stupid looking gun." but it turned out too be really good IMO.\

With the new patch, the Gun Runners sell the Pistol and it's Submachine Gun counterpart, along with ammo, which you can handload now. Contreras at Camp McCarran will sell around 1000-2000 rounds.

10mm? given none of the casino guard is no well armoured, JHP or HP should get the job done.

Maria and Lucky are good as well, but neither is silenced.

The only silenced guns you can sneak in are the .22 and the 10mm. You can't sneak in an SMG.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Holdout_weapons

IIRC, there's a 12.7mm Pistol and SMG in that you can get to well before you can buy them from Ammo for them is plentiful at . That was a lot of wasn't it?

-Gunny out.

A lot of unnecessary spoiler tags.
But thanks, I'll now go there, Nightstalkers are pushovers anyhow.

You should use the hand-loader perk for all characters that use guns, it's the simpelest way to increase damage. For example:

Anti-Material Rifle normal rounds: 110 damage

Anti-Material Rifle Match hand load : 127 damage

it's really easy to make hand load rounds too, just buy the normal ammunition from the stores, then break it down and change it into hand load ammo.

Unnecessary for the content, maybe, but necessary for my spoiler implementation practice :hubbahubba:

OT: I also found the pistol not as useful as I thought it would be. The accuracy is notably bad, as others have said, and the lack of any other ammo types than ball and HP further limit it's utility. The SMG is deadly up close, the pistol less so, but I wouldn't advise against using the pistol, it just didn't work for the character build I was using. Maybe if you tailor your build around good pistol perks like Run and Gun, Gunslinger, The Professional, Math Wrath, Action Boy, Better Criticals, Concentrated Fire, Nerves of Steel and Grim Reaper's Sprint. That would make a pretty good VATS build for sidearms is general. Add in a couple of the general +damage perks and it might work out.

-Gunny out.

@ .46ACP - Thanks, I thought there might have been a spot I'd found one before, since in one save game I had two of the machine gun versions. Just couldn't remember where/or if it had just been another Legion party drop. Don't use VATS, but I think with my average cautious/slow combat style I'll manage in most situations. If it gets too sticky & for certain areas I can always bring a weakened Boone (give him a weak weapon/armor) or other companion along.

.46ACP has posted the best replay location wise.

The no sneaking into casinos is a pain, but as of yet I have had little use for sneaking a gun in anyway on a non hostile build.
The strength requirement for the pistol is very high imo, but I place this as due to its high calibre, being single handed and that of its damage.

As a stealth weapon it really is the best for a up close pistol user, and if you really need a back up go for the modded 10mm, the two together are yin - yang.

The other point is that he smg version makes a brilliant lighter assault rifle it has no scope but does tremendous base damage and dps.
Is silenced when modded, and combined with hollow points makes short work of most wasteland / town foes ( same for the pistol ).
Normal rounds are just as good as most single / semi automatic mid. late game rifles.

Mods and ammo are available way before the guns are however, the best place for the mods for pistol and smg are the 188 imo.

Oh the Sawn off is a great up close early pistol too, head to Sloan enter the building on the left, it's in on of the lockers there 100% of the time for me.

Sorry to drag this up again but....

I got a 12.7 pistol at red rock level 6 from sneak killing Khans.

Just modded / repaired it with the silencer and have enough ammo scraqed up 500 +.
Character now level 14 with fast shot, Hitman 90+ sneak, 100 guns this thing eats through deathclaws in Dead wind like nothing else I've seen even without better criticals.
It may not be that accurate at range but RoF and damage are fantastic only let down by small magazine size when facing multipule foes, and condition wearing out rapidly.

I haven't actually used it yet, but it seem to be a natural next step from 10mm pistol for a silenced sidearm (.22, 10mm, 12.7mm). Ammo vendors seem to have genereously ammo on stock too, despite my character being only level 15.

I haven't found ammo for the 12.7 to be too much of an issue with the new patch. Seems like almost everyone sells it in at least some quantity now.
Agree about the strength of it in close-ish range, it's why I started thinking about a chr. built around it. The small magazine size is definitely an occasional annoyance tho. And it may not have the best accuracy but I can still 1-2 hit drop sneak crit. enemies from pretty far away, fairly frequently, with it.

Interesting about the Khan having one, I'll keep that in mind, but I still don't like killing non-hostile npc's just for gear. Not my rpg-style.
I suppose I should get over that tho, since the other thing for me is that my slow-XP mod means that often, I've done most things except the Vaults/death claw areas and the Strip/Main Quests before they ever show up in stores... *laugh* ...my chr. is still using the 9/10mm because I haven't done the Bloodborne cave yet...with my slow reflexes not sure I can do it at low clvls w/just little pistols w/out a companion, unless I lower the difficulty down from VH...and now I'm distracted by the improved wasteland spawns mod.

Well, judging by your playstyle from your vids, I'd say you've got a pretty good point there. Bloodbourne would be very tough on VH/HC, with no friends, no hud, no vats and only a 10mm. You *could* try it with a boat load os stealth boys, but you're not gonna be able to one hit the mama and papa. You *could* try to set up an elaborate mine trap, one section at a time and try not to aggro DCs further up the cave. What lvl are you and what's your guns skill and perk list? I could give it a try and see if it's even possible.

-Gunny out.

Normally I don't but a was trying out two things this playthrough.
The first seeing if I could fight not just sneak my way backwards through the game, the second playing a non speech killer not buying anything but ammo, so any gun is fair game.

Blood borne may be tough for you as gunny points out, I love your die hard playstyle btw :rock: .

The only tactic I can suggest as gunny did is lay mines, but not heading left.
Go right drop off the ledge and plant as many triggered explosives as possible fairly layed out.
Head back untill you can see one load up 10mm HP's or JHP and try and draw their attention slowley one at a time.
If they all dive forward the mines will at least cause some damage and their A.I may lead some of them to flee.

@.46ACP
Bloodborne is full of chupac-- Nightstalkers , not DCs

Senior moment. Sorry. Yeah, that should be easily doable. That other place I was talking about, not so much. Maybe after you get the 12.7mm, maybe not. That said, now I must go try this.................................... :bolt:

-Gunny out.