Nothing says I love you like 7.62

Aye, you've got that right. I find the 5.56x45mm effective enough for bringing down unarmored targets. We're pretty much just like walking dogs (in body mass/dimensions), so logically a varmint caliber would be suitable and has been for half a century. The bonus of carrying more and it weighing less makes it even better as we've also gotta carry field equipment, marching order (ruck, snivel kit, sleeping bags, etc), rations, water, and so forth. It's a bloody blessing, really.

Yep. Ammo,food & water. If there was room for anything else it was a bonus.

7.62x39mm, as seen in the RPD, SKS and then the Automat Kalahsnikova?

7.62x54R, as featured in the Mosin-Nagain 1891 and its descendants, SVT-38/40, PK machine gun, and SVD/SVU marksman rifles??

7.62x51mm NATO, as (widely) seen in the hands of squad marksmen, snipers, and medium machinegunners?

or

7.62x25mm Tokarov, as seen in the TT-33, Cz 52, and several Soviet submachine guns?

:)

With regards to the 1918 BAR and its accuracy, it was NOT an "area effect" weapon. It carried only 20 rounds in a magazine, and spraying indiscriminately would quickly run you dry. At the time of its introduction the standard infantry rifle was the 1903 Springfield. It fired the same round as the BAR (.30-06) but with a far lower useful rate of fire owing firstly to the fact that it was bolt action and secondly that it only held 5 rounds, internally, and had to be charged with clips. The BAR supplied serious firepower for the day by being a self-loading rifle with 20 rounds in an external, easily swapped magazine. The 1918 and 1918A1 were both select fire, with a semi-automatic option, in which they had fine accuracy. The 1918A2 was a World War 2 model. The job of self-loading rifle had been taken over M1 Garand, so the whole idea of wanting a squad level heavy duty rifle that could quickly lay down that kind of fire was obsolete. As a result, the A2 did away with the semi auto feature, and only fired on automatic. Two different rates, true, but automatic all the same. It was intended to be fired from prone at all times (came with bipod) and to be used as a highly portable machine gun. Which it wasn't good at due to the small magazine.

Basically the problem is that the game has saddled us with with the full-auto-only feature of the 1918A2, does not model recoil so even the first shot won't hit anything further than 20 feet away, doesn't let us go prone to use the thing's bipod for improved stability, OR give us the entire infantry squad around which the 1918A2 was conceptualized (to cover us while we reload).

(I really really wish games would get past this concept that anything which fires on automatic is a melee weapon; machine guns score hits just as far away as the grunts with their rifles. But that's another gripe.)

In game terms, it's relatively powerful, but only at ridiculously short ranges. The kind of ranges where I might as well pull out my 12 gauge and put slugs into their head, which has the same general effect for vastly less expense in ammo and maintenance.

I tried modding it to fit my ideal, but apparently you cannot have a weapon be semi in free aim and burst in VATS. Either it's automatic or it's not, and the burst length seems to be tied to the basic rate of fire. I'm pretty sure it would be overall more useful if it was semi auto only with decent (0.5) accuracy. I think I'll try that and see if I like it.

Marine Gunny Carlos Hathcock strapped a scope to a M2 Browning MG and used it as a sniper rifle. MGs can be very effective at extremely long ranges.

You could mod the weapon as semi-auto, but give it a ROF in the range of 6 or so. This will speed up the firing animation to the point where, when you pull the trigger as fast as you can it could provide close to the rate of fire as a M1918 in (low) full-auto, while giving you the ability to still shoot single. You would have to find a spread number for this that you can live with, as you'd want it low enough for the single shots to be fairly accurate, but high enough so that in faster firing the spread replicates the accuracy decrease from (the game's nonexistant) muzzle rise. I would recommend trying something around 1. That might not be enough, unless you apply some self-imposed trigger discipline. If you find you're getting around 3 hits out of 5 rounds with that spread firing as fast as you can in short bursts, that should be about right.

-Gunny out.

I love this gun, Crank it full of .308 JSP Hand Loader ammo and gg Mojave.

.308 rounds are easy to get from the vending machine and also remaking ammo from the empty cases after using a pile of rounds with this gun.

I also take weapon repair kits anywhere I go which keep this gun running perfect. Lucky for me though I have Pack Rat and Heavy weight which keep my weight way down.

I find that nothing can close in on me with this gun, Deathclaws usually get crippled and stunned and die before ever landing a hit on me. I did Dead Wind Cavern with this gun and no stealth and 6 Deathclaws rushed the entrance to attack me but were getting crippled and stunned in the narrow path and couldn't get around each other to land a single hit. This was solo on Very Hard as well.

I think Obsidain doesnt knows anything about guns really. The BAR during ww2 was not inaccurate. Further more this is coming from the people that say the Fat man should only do 200 damage...So i wouldnt expect much... guns wise. They should use logic over what they are using...

I was actually fairly impressed with Josh Sawyer's weapon knowledge. He only started shooting a few years ago, but, like just about anything the guy does, he really does his homework. He's picked up quite a bit of knowledge. He owns a Rossi 1894 clone, as well as a Mauser K98 copy. I also think he owns a handgun or 2. If it seems to you that I might have a decent grasp of weapons, then you can take my word that Josh does as well. He just likes his cowboy guns, maybe a bit too much. I need to get him to the range so he can shoot some more modern stuff. :gun:

-Gunny out.

So you know Josh sawyer?

But i can understand that almost any gun gun you can start losing control of it on full auto Like the FAL. But it can be manged on particular guns and its not that inaccurate.

Only from here. He spent quite a bit of time in my pre-release weapons threads teasing us and floating trial ballons. A few red herrings too, I think. Although, I am serious about the range offer. I'd be more than happy to go to the range with just about anyone. Any day putting rounds downrange is a good day, regardless of the company.

-Gunny out.

True i love shooting guns any day...

7.62 NATO. Its was a saying we had in the Australian Army when they were replacing my beloved SLR with the F-88.

I think it has more to do with game design decisions than knowledge, or the lack thereof. I believe i can see where they were going with the Automatic Rifle, and i'm more than willing to excuse the artistic liberties they have taken, since this isn't meant to be a realistic simulation game.

A front sight post would have been nice to have though.

All i have to say is that they should actually research something before adding it in the game...

My entire point was that they probably didn't make it the way it is by mistake.

Think early last century gangster feeling. It's a big, badass looking hunk of blued steel that goes RATATATATAT. It fits in the game just fine. Put on a nice pre-war hat and start unloading from the hip.

Thats pointless why would they do that by mistake. If you want a gangster looking gun you get the Tommy gun...

I said they didn't (that stands for did not) do it by mistake. They already have a thompson in the game, it just happens to be an energy weapon.

gangsters also used BAR's like Clyde(you know, from bonnie and Clyde)

The BAR or it's civilian/police version the Colt "Monitor" was a favorite of the Bank Robber gangs that plagued the Southwest and Midwest in the '20s and '30s. They would steal them from National Guard Armories. Clyde cut down the stock and barrel of one for Bonnie to use. A 5' tall 90lb woman wielding a BAR must have been a sight to behold. One of the bootlegger gangs in this area (Central and Southern Illinois), the Sheltons, had a couple of belt-fed machine-guns, and even used home made Armored Cars and in once infamous incident, used a airplane to make a bombing run against thier rivals.