On my sniper character, I used the Varmint Rifle up till .. I dunno, Whenever it was I first found a hunting rifle, which if I'm not mistaken, was still decently far into the game. However, I'm planning on making another sniper character (My first char was a sniper, but obviously, being my first, his perks weren't the best choices)

I will avoid all the VATS perks again, because as a sniper, VATS is all but useless. (VATS has FAR less range than my scope, most sniper rifles take more than half my AP for one shot in VATS, and scoping in on a target in real-time is much more rewarding, but mostly the first thing about VATS range) but I REALLY want the meltdown perk for the YCS/186. Can you imagine a chain reaction on a group of cazadores or legion? lol.. Caesars tent... man. Anyway, yeah, back on topic...

If you just want something that does more damage than the varmint rifle, there are two cowboy repeaters in the sheriff's house/shack in the northern part of Primm, ones under the bed, the other under the reloading bench. I don't personally like the peep-sight, but it does more damage than the varmint rifle. Also, if you need more repairs on it, you can snag two at the NCR mojave outpost, but you gotta be tricky about it, by shooting them out of rangers ghost and jackson's hands.

However, I personally want to know the very earliest one can find a hunting rifle, as that is probably my favorite gun in the "early" game (with all the mods), save for the AMR, YCS, and Gobi. The problem is, finding the scope so it can actually be used as a sniper rifle, lol.

I found the Ratslayer rifle recently, it looks amazing while wearing Reinforced leather armour, they suit each other perfectly. But i prefer pracitcality over looks, so i soon got rid of it, as even with the sweet silencer & Guns at 100, it only does about 44 points of damage. So i have gone with the basic silver sniper rifle that you can find at some vendors. Looking forward to finding more unique ones in the wastes.

Not every enemy in the game, even at level 30, is worthy of a .50, or .308 round. Try it for yourself. Just grab the gun and some AP/HP ammo (40 rounds of each) and see what can dropedwith a single sneak attack headshot. You'll end up being surprised.

this

its a good weapon to have not everything needs a .50/.308, plus theres loads of varmint rifles lying about to repair it

better crits/sniper perks also help

You guys are forgetting one huge benefit of Ratslayer. zero recoil. Sure it may take two or three shots on some enemies (without better criticals, or sneak attack) but you can aim it far more accurately, and fire far more frequently. Not to mention 5.56 ammo is ridiculously abundant, and varmint rifles for repairs are cheap. (though if you're a gun-person, and don't have, or plan to get Jury-Rigging, then you're doin' it wrong )

But yeah, Ratslayer is probably the best (possibly only) scoped weapon you're going to get early on (meaning before you get to freeside/outer new vegas).

but hey, I'm open to other options?

Weapon repair kits makes jury rigging a redundant perk in regards to fixing weapons. Armor is a different story, but I'm still using reinforced leather armor at level 22 so even then the perk would be pointless for me.

Weapon repair kits take time and resources to make/use. I suppose if you don't mind actively seeking duct tape, wrenches, wonderglue, scrap electronics (!), and scrap metals, then it's no big deal. but honestly, I can't be bothered. Especially when there are hardly 15 perks I need anyway, particularly when I eliminate the need for any of the VATS perks, which account for a large portion of the perks anyway.

I can see Jury Rigging to be less important than some other perks, but the convenience gained form it is just too great.

Repair an anti-materiel rifle with a hunting rifle? yes please.

The only thing I don't quite understand is how you can repair the AMR with a hunting rifle, but you can't repair the gobi with a hunting rifle... or a sniper rifle with a hunting rifle. Kinda odd.

Whatever. Either way, Jury rigging does save quite a bit of time for the cost of one perk. Not to mention it gives you another use for a lot of those crap weapons you pick up. Overburdened? Repair time

Better, Varmint Rifles will repair the AMR.

I have found 3 before I hit Novac but they are all at the bottom of the trunk.

I went with a tricked out Varmit Rifle through 80% of the game before I upgraded to an Anti-Material Rifle

That's the exact reason why the perk is there. It's there solely for the lazy who can't be bothered picking up, or buying, the items required to make the kits.

And people who use armor better than reinforced leather. Which means it's not "the exact reason" and for "the lazy" at all.

Exactly. I use the chinese stealth suit. There are two in the game. I am not going to spend 5000 caps every time it needs repairs. Plus when I'm out in the field, killing things, and my gun starts jamming (unlikely) then viola. repair it with a stick and some duct tape Seriously though. It's not just because someones "lazy". It's convenient. Do you say cell phones are for lazy people? no. they are just convenient. You don't need one, but it's nifty to have one. you don't need jury rigging, but it's convenient.

jury rigging perk is an excellent perk for repair geeks like me, i also make tons of repair kits but the jury rigging perk also repairs your other items, i use it to repair my armored vault suit, repair kits are good too, but the jury rigging perk i find is really usefull.

I think you can still repair them with recon armour......which is better unless you have Travel Light.

With JR however, you just have to go to freeside and you have a whole pile of clothes for you to repair it....

JR is for fixing armor, for weapons you can find so many components for WRKs it just doesn't seem feasible to waste another piece of weapon to repair. If you are using Combat Armor for example, fixing it with some basic lamest face-wrap armor you can grab easily in multiple places is simply a necessity to maintain it at good level and without having to re-buy it over and over again for 5-6k when it breaks. It might not seem like much on lower difficulties but higher up it really matters.

I found a hunting rifle at gun runners in 100 condition while at a low level...like 8 or 9. I kept checking back at gun runners until they also had a scope mod for sale, now I think I have it completely modded

You can steal a Hunting Rifle from Brahmin Rancher's home in Novac. Also a Trail Carbine there in Ranger's Andy house which will last you for almost the whole game.

Yeah they are on my third playthrough I'm a lvl 24 and I still can't find a silencer for my sniper rifle

If you need to *repair* the stealth armor, you're doing it wrong :hehe:

Awesome. =)

Well I got a sniper rifle 2 mins into the game (varmint rifle + Night Scope) and to people who say it not a sniper rifle it is (or nothing but the sniper and Gobi sniper counts).