In my view it seems to be the all-round weakest weapon in the game.

At low levels, it's the most accurate long range weapon you'll get early on.
A fully upgraded varmint rifle is a mini sniper rifle, and if you have a high gun skill you can take out most people without heavy armor with a single head shot.

In my experience it was more accurate than the full-bore sniper rifle, which tended to wander a bit too much. Given its weakness, it was inconvenient if you didn't get that first shot kill, but I still found myself using it late in the game for medium-to-long distance sniping and switching over to a shotgun or SMG if I missed and found some enraged buffoon charging towards me.

1. Only sniping weapon you can get within 5 minutes of leaving Doc Mitchell's house.
2. See number 1.
3. Less AP per shot than the Sniper Rifle, the Ratslayer, or the AMR.
4. Sneak Attack Critical makes any weapon awesome, and a modded Varmint Rifle kicks ass from [HIDDEN] status.

Even at level cap, I carry one around. It's light. It's got minimal spread. And with Guns 100 and AP ammo, I can take out just about any human target with one shot.

Of course, this is all good if you're a sniper. If you are not a sniper, then... yeah, the Varmint Rifle is pretty much going to svck for you.

It is a durable bolt-action rifle you start the game with, plenty of rounds and continue to serve except against the toughness enemy.

During the tutorial, you could have been given a pipe-rifle to shoot the bottles with. Some useless one-shot fall-to-bits thing to waste pistol ammo on.

Instead you got a pretty accurate rifle of five shots and the option to stick a big clip, scope or suppressor on it.

Sounds good to me.

I don't really like it either, matter of tase I guess :shrug:

I do like the Ratslayer, but that's mostly because it looks so cool.

It's devastating in the hands of a critical strike character. And that's the way %80 of the players build their characters.

The Varmint Rifle does the job until I run into Harland and acquire a hunting rifle from him...for the cost of a single 5.56mm HP round.

^This.

Also, you can get a silencer for it much, much earlier than you'll be coming across one for a sniper rifle, and the ammo is both cheap and plentiful.

Plus, the nightvision scope is just cool.

Because it reminds me of my first firearm. I'm sentimentally nostalgic like that. I also like long walks on the beach (if it starts off with as a battalion sized landing exercise, of course)

-Gunny out.

I rarely used the Varmint rifle much past Primm, but then I never bothered buying more ammo for it and tended to run low all the time. This was mostly due to hating the recycling system for conventional ammunition, but having now run several Guns characters I am thinking of trying it out again.

It doesn't help that by the time I can actually survive going after the unique Ratslayer I've usually gotten the free Sniper Rifle from the 1st Recon tent in Camp McCarran, and often 1-2 of the mods from the Arms Merchant at 188 Trading Post in the process, thus rendering the Varmint Rifle moot. That, and I've been giving the shotguns, which I usually totally ignored, a try and haven't really wanted a sniping weapon as a Hunting Shotgun with the choke and loaded with slugs is a pretty good long-range weapon.

One benefit the weapon does retain at higher levels, which is hard to quantify, is that it shares a common ammo type with some of the more powerful auto-weapons, such as the Assault Carbine, thus making ammo maintenance that much simpler, which is a real boon when playing on hardcoe mode. Then again, at higher levels you're probably drowning in hand-loaded rounds anyway, so just how much of an advantage that actually is is debatable.

General, sir, a good Gunny would be remiss to point out that the General has obviously misspoken when the General makes a reference to the Assault Carbine being chambered in 5.56mm, as is the common civilian varminting rifle. As I'm certain the General knows, the Assault Carbine is chambered in 5mm, and the General must simply have misstated the appropriate cartridge. With the General's pardon, sir.

-Gunny out.

Shows you how often I actually use one. :tongue:

Guess I made an assumption based on said limited usage. Even so, 5mm ammo is ridiculously common, and if you unlock certain vendors can be bought by the thousand. I do know there is an automatic weapon that uses 5.56s, so the concept still holds even if the specifics don't.

General you should also know you never question, argue or second guess your gunny when it comes to weapons, even if they don't have a caliber.

Perhaps the General was actually thinking of the Marksman Carbine & All American, which do use 5.56...and are a (seemingly) popular option/unique for those who like such weapons.

My character is a sniper and it was the best weapon to use when I started. Decent range and all.