Just some minor food for thought revolving around the combat rifle. Now I'm OK with its design "even if it and the combat shotgun are almost identical"... Could be that they are both manufactured by the same company and thus use similar tooling so the shops don't have to make radical adjustments in milling or tooling from one batch to another, but that by the by as they say. my real thoughts are on why I think I know why it is originally chambered in 45. ACP. "Over penetration" hear me out it is a common practice for law enforcement agencies to use less penetrative munitions in the line of duty simply because they don't want the rounds going through the target and into the background possibly injuring or killing a innocent bystander. It's the reason why most department use 9mm or 40 S&W for their duty carry. Military on the hand wants as much penetration as they can get it's the very reason why they use 556 308 7.62 30-06 and 50. BMG. Now the vanilla combat rifle is found in mainland America and was most likely used for both the annexation of Canada and by post fallout national guard units and law enforcement to keep the peace because they didn't want the over penetration of a military or hunting cartridge. In short the vanilla 45. was more likely the conversion from its military 308 counterpart for law enforcement and peacekeepers... Or I am reading way to far into this.


Anyone else have thoughts on this?

yes but law enforcement will use say a submachine gun such as a mp5 that is originally chambered in pistol rounds, they wont go grab a 20lb+ full length battle rifle and chamber it in 45, and the size,weight and length of that thing would make it pretty useless for the situations where law enforcement is worried about over penetration (generally CQB work in urban settings)

the 10mm submachine gun (basically is 40S&W) that they decided to leave out would make much more sense for that

most duty carry is 9mm for the reason its cheap, high mag stack count, generally light weight and common ammo between between all officers

no non-exotic handgun is known for its over penetration characteristics (and cops are not going to be carrying 50AE desert eagles or 500S&Ws)

there has been nothing in the fallout universe that states anything other than the american govt did not give a [censored] about civilian lives during the rioting nor especially care at all about canada or canadians, and ofcourse the enclave was american government remnants

same as in our world as in theirs no one would rechamber a combat rifle for pistol calibers unless they were a civilian wanting to use cheaper ammo at the range

the main reason its 45, is lack of different calibers and beth wanted to have an upgrade for damage progression, why it wasnt 556 upgrade to 308 is beyond me but beth has never shown any real weapon knowledge

You got a point there

I'm just happy that the Combat Rifle looks like a proper gun unlike the weird steampunkish Assault Rifle! You're right though it looks an aweful lot like combat shotgun!

I personally really like how the combat rifle "feels" - probably my favorite weapon

i just wished

a) it would look more like a real gun (like the m1a for example which i think is the inspiration anyway)

b.) the shot gun and the combat rifle wouldnt look so similar (pretty lazy bethesda)

I am one of those "weirdos" tough that also like the assault rifle look...i think it fits the game, even if i wished there was a more traditional option for the guys who dont like it...

I really enjoyed new vegas amount of weapons since i just enjoy variety even if the weapons function/playstile doesnt differ

the BAR is its inspiration not the m1a

The combat rifle is obviously Beth's idea of a battle rifle. Chambering a full length rifle intended for med to long range combat with a short range pistol round is ludicrous. The Combat Rifle is a RIFLE. Take a look at the range of a fully modded CR chambered in .45. It's comparable to 5.56 and .308 performance. It's basically a med to long range intended weapon. Chambering that sort of weapon with a pistol round that has high knock down power, but loses energy rapidly off the muzzle, is not only ludicrous, but really eyerollingly so. I love the .45 ACP like any other, but I know well it's range limitation, and that it was never intended as a RIFLE round.

It's just one of the many holes in Beth's ballistic weapon design that's difficult to overlook. Add to the list a 27 lb assault rifle, a .50 that barely outperforms a .308 while sitting on a pipe or standard bolt action frame, magical weapons and mods, loss of things like grenade launchers, and well...this obviously isn't a weapon savvy game area like the Mojave who, as opposed to relying on magic and non-existent armor piercing "receivers," rely on pre-war knowledge and a 100 + year old company that specializes in re-producing pre-war weaponry from pre-war schematics, and certainly hasn't forgotten how to create match handloads, or that ammunition types exist like armor piercing, hollow points, incendiary, and magnum rounds, that create better effects on target.

Until I actually picked up an assault rifle in-game, I thought that picture during the loading screens was a type of heavy weapon that I had yet to encounter. It's almost a dead ringer for a German Spandau machine gun (a variant of the Maxim).

You are. My guess is that battle rifle use .45 for game play balance reasons (not having too many weapons using too many different cartridges, or may be having enough opponents to provide steady supply, or something like that). Cartridge itself is rather powerful and it's good one for hunting or law enforcement, but it lacks penetration and therefore is unsuitable for military use (other then a side arm).

Btw, 9mm have problem with over penetration too. It can easily go through target person and hit somebody standing behind. I know there were such cases.

I agree that it's a stretch, but it's not that big a stretch. .45 was originally developed as a pistol round, but it's so powerful that it's used also in rifles. There are hunting rifles which use it and cartridge is powerful enough to be used to hunt most common high game.

As for potential use of .45 in military, it was used in military issue sub machine guns and during WWII, sub machine guns were used as a primary personal weapons. Red Army even used units equipped exclusively with sub machine guns. Although cartridge they were using was very different from .45 and had excellent penetration.

What battle rifle can represent is something likehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_carbine US army was using during WWII and after. Of course design of F4 battle rifle suggests something much more powerful, since it's visually clearly inspired by BAR. But then looks might be deceiving

In my opinion, it would have being more fitting if battle rifle used .308 and hunting rifle (perhaps in lever action design) would use .45 in game.

Assault rifle is clearly inspired by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_gun, which was light machine gun used by US and British armies in WWI and WWII. There's nothing steam punk about it.

The US military's history with the .45 cartridge precedes the creation of the .45 ACP round by over a quarter of a century, beginning with the adoption of the .45-70 Govt cartridge in 1873. I tend to think of the combat rifle using a modern derivative of the .45-70 like .450 Marlin, .450 Bushmaster, or .458 SOCOM rather than .45 ACP. That doesn't explain both the combat rifle and the SMG sharing ammunition, i just chalk it up to the "streamlining" Beth did for FO4 and figure it'll get sorted out once the GECK is released.

Overall I'm pretty happy with what they've done with the weapons, though I do miss FO3's chinese assault rifle and NV's reloading bench.

I'm not sure if this post fits in this thread but I have a question about the combat rifle so I'll stick it in here anyway.


I have a combat rifle modded as such:


-(PLAN TO GET ONCE LEVELED) Powerful automatic receiver

-Short ported barrel

-Full stock (I like the wooden look)

-(PTGOL)Large quick eject mag

-Front ring sights

-Muzzle break on barrel (Might try a suppressor depending on sound and visual preferences.)


I need the last gun nut perk as finding the last few lvl 4 gun nut parts in a store is pretty unlikely. I'm level 33 I think, but can't play for the next 2 weeks since I work up north away from home and my computer can't run the game properly.


My question is how will this gun perform?


I plan to use it for medium to close range engagements to replace my two-shot (Legendary effect) sawn off.


I think it will be a fun gun but I've heard automatic receivers are underwhelming. I want to be able to use it against super mutants and I'm perking the commando perk as they become available.

When in semi-auto mode, it handles similarly to an M1, except for the reload and clip capacity. The firing sound is even modeled after the M1. I'd say the M1 is at least as much of an inspiration.

the most ugly weapon in the game

it feels way too heavy

even the Assault Rifle that has a way bigger model feels way lighter and agile

and I also really dislike the sound of the Combat Rifle

There was a cheesy movie some years back starring Tom Selleck called High Road to China that prominently features a Lewis Gun.

Last time I checked, Fallout wasn't a Gun Simulator. Get over it people.

Overall, I like the combat rifle. I don't want to get too knit picky about the actual ammo since authenticity is not the focus of the game. If I was playing a FPS that is suppose to take place during a certain historical era, then that would be a different story.

I have a semi-automatic long barrel combat rifle with reflex sights and a recon long barrel combat sniper rifle; both are fitted with suppressors. Those are my primary weapons. I do carry a 10mm auto pistol, but I do not use it very often and I still carry around a .38 auto pipe rifle since I find that it does a pretty decent job shooting ghouls in the leg.

I generally do not like the assault rifle. It looks like a throwback to a WWI machine gun, but more importantly it is pretty heavy and it take up a decent amount of the screen. I suppose it's saving grace is the high capacity drum, but I generally have no problems reloading a 40 round clip in my combat rifle (combat sniper rifle has a 20 round clip). It also does less damage than the combat rifle.

Honestly i miss the New Vegas HUGE variety of weapons... u liteally had a piece for every taste, while also being able to chamber ur custom round (dem shotgun moneyshots ). Here... we get the standart + stats mods, and rechambering mods that leave the weapon looking exactly the same... sigh. Why such a downgrade beth?

IMO the combat gun is too powerful.

I have 3 versions:

-non scoped for med-long range+40 bullet clip

-scoped/silenced for sniping

-and the double shot for auto close-medium range

Think its nice we can do that but makes many other weapons kinda useless. Just trading purified water and jet combos for .45s so Im set forever with this.

it looks very much like a BAR, the barrel, stock and butt stock are very BAR

the only different part is the receiver (which is also unlike the M1), and the trigger guard but that is more similar in its size to the BAR than M1

what do you mean "handles similarly to a M1"?

it weighs BAR weight, is at least as long as a BAR id say it handles far more like a BAR than any rifle such as a M1

there is nothing similar in its looks whatsoever with the M1 and almost everything about its looks and handling characteristics match the BAR

Can we stop with the claims that the 'assault rifle' http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Assault_rifle_(Fallout_4) is based on the lewis gun, since its actually a mash up of the FN Minimi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FN_Minimi%C2%A0with with a liquid cooled style barrel similar in style to the WW1 german light machine gun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_08 MG 08/15, one of the alternatives barrels is similar to the Vickers HMG barrel (although obviously smaller). Aside from a slightly similar looking barrel which is air cooled there is nothing linking the fallout weapon to the lewis gun......a close look at the lewis gun barrel will also show that it isn't really that similar to the 'assault rifle' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_gun.

Back on topic, I found the Combat Rifle to be my preferred sniping rifle (in .308) until I had access to a Gauss Rifle, even then the Combat Rifle could handle anything but the toughest opponents and my preferred travelling weapon (in .45) that I could be sure to handle most threats until I could safely switch to a more powerful weapon.

You're reading far too much into it.

.45 (no mention of ACP) = SMG and Combat Rifle (main configurations being stock size, which appears more as a DIY thing)

5.56mm = Assault Rifle (in various configurations - barrel length, and action).

It looks like the generic firearm for the military is the 5.56 Assault Rifle family. I specifically say military and exclude police/law enforcement, because in the Fallout universe, pre-bombs, law enforcement was not militarised as they are in the real world US of today (militarisation of police only beginning in the late '70s/80s, and ramping up dramatically in the current century).

Unless I'm missing something, the weight units in game are not actually named. They're just an arbitrary measure of how much you can carry. Unless Bethesda thinks a metal dinner tray weighs a pound...

Agree. .308 is a classic battle rifle round. Would agree with a lever-action in .45-70, but not a .45 ACP. The latter needs to remain in weapons designs for CQB (Pistols and SMGs), where it is most effective. A combat frame built around a .458 SOCOM would be agreeable as well.