I recently bought an Ammo Box of .22 Plinking Rounds as I thought I could use it for my .22 SMG but I cant figure out how they work, or if they even act as ammunition.

So how do I use them and what do they do?

Thanks

bump

Drop the ammo box in a container, then pick it up again and you should get a certain amount of .22 Plinking Rounds. I think it also works with the inventory of your followers, if you got any that is.

Oh I have to do that with playing cards too.

Oh okay thanks. So you can just do that as many times as you like?

According to the wiki, you buy the box and you buy the ammo in bulk, then you dispose of the box and use the ammo. Ive never bought surplus ammo before though.

Yes it's the same principle unless you're using certain mods.

Box should disappear once you get the ammo itself.

Supposed to work the same as boxes of shells/brass, jars of gunpowder.

I noticed the amo has weight at the time of purchase but once in your inventory it appears weightless as normal (not hardcoe).

First make sure that you have patched your game to the latest if you are on the PC. If not it's coming soon.

Other wise it's as Joe and the Colonel said. Dop the box on the ground (or put it in a container) and then retrieve it. You should then get the individual rounds. Here's what the wiki sayshttp://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_ammunition#Bugs

.22 plinking rounds isn't the same as surplus ammo as I understand it.

Surplus has approximatively the same target damage effect as normal ammunition from what I noticed, only it decays your weapon much faster.

There's two different terms in use here.

BULK ammo is any ammo that you buy in boxes, and then have to open up to use. .22 plinking rounds, .38 special, and .223 are all bulk ammo.

SURPLUS ammo is a specific type of bulk ammo, like "5.56mm Surplus".

5mm and 5.56mm Surplus ammo gives a bonus to damage, but also causes much more damage to your weapon when you use it. Not all types of bulk ammo have bad effects. .38 special rounds, for example, only do 75% of normal damage but only 75% of normal weapon durability loss too.

But leave silly people like me wandering around wondering why I can't find a .38 revolver.

All Surplus ammo should be available for breakdown and crafting. As it is, it seems to be entirely unnecessary in the game.

The .38 special cartridge is ".38" because of the nominal diameter of the *case*. It is, in fact, the same diameter as the .357 magnum (which has a .357 caliber *bullet*). The difference between the two is length and allowable maximum pressure. The .38 special was designed in the days of black powder, and has a quite low maximum pressure, while the .357 magnum is designed to operate at higher pressure and thus launches the same bullet at significantly higher speed. .38 special is safe to shoot in firearms chambered for .357 magnum, but not the reverse: this is why the .357's case is longer, to prevent it from chambered in firearms that it could potentially cause to fail.

It's actually a little strange that there are no .38 revolvers laying around in F:NV, because they are extremely popular and common. It would be interesting to know which problem would be a larger obstacle to their inclusion: The additional artwork needed, or the additional programming needed (because the .38 revolver can't use .357 magnum ammo, but the magnum can use .38 special). But then there's also no R51 assault rifles, which is an even more glaring omission since we know that these were mass produced as the principle US assault rifle at the time of the Great War. Oh well.

As a further bit of trivia, there also exists a .44 special, which shares the same relationship with the .44 magnum.

Presumably the modelling and artwork. The differentiation in ammo only requires one additional FormList which is less than five minutes work. I'd guess they simply weren't needed...no hole in the arsenal for them to occupy.

i really don't get why they make you drop the box then pick it up again to use the ammo (or other items that act this way).

It's a known bug. You have to drop the container or shift it from your inventory to another storage space and back to remove the box and get the ammo. There are similar issues with buying gunpowder, boxes of shell casings, and other things of that nature.