1: When you use bolt-action or lever-action weapons, it seems like you chamber a new round with almost god-like speed (or sleight of hand speed) I remember reading a guess by someone that its only like that if you have a really high small guns skill, and I am REALLY hoping that is the case.

2: The Assault Carbine (M4) looks really bad from 1st person, the front sight post is tiny, and its such an iconic gun that im really sad

Im not TOO TOO worried because there will always be mods for things like this (GO PC!)

Thoughts?

yeah i noticed that too, i really wish the fixed the way your hand holds the gun, it always looks very unnatural and sometimes your hand isnt touching the gun, that always bugged me

Have you used a bolt action rifle? You can chamber a round as fast as you can twist pull and push http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3cJYsey15U those guys aren't even going for speed in chambering, although they are squeezing off a lot of rounds. I have multiple rifles that i can easily replicate the speed of Fallout characters. A Howa 300 win mag (obviously long action), a Remington 700 5R Milspec in .308 (short action obviously), and a old Springfield 30-06. Perhaps it seems fast when you haven't used a bolt action much. I would also note; with a faced action that is very smooth and well cared for hardly takes any effort to use.

I think you read my guess about that character having high guns, I posted one. Anyway the front iron sights pissed me off too but the fact that they have an M4 is more than enough for me. (Love ya for that Sawyer)

I really didn't think the M4 needed to be in this game.

Granted you can say the AR15 CAR15 whatever was being developed in the 50's and 60's but those designs had a MUCH different look. The M4 just screams 90s -2000s. They didn't even try to "cartoonize" it like they did with the AK-47(Chinese Assault Rifel) and the G3(Assault Rifle). Well then again the Desert Eagle was in the first two fallout games and if I'm not mistaken that gun (or atleast the look portrayed in those games) was an 80s design. Guess it doesn't matter that much then.

I won't complain too much about it because everything else makes up for it and I know they can't make everyone happy. There's probably more mods for M4's than ANYTHING else for FO3...

First person view makes it look crappy, but then again I think all fallout weapons in first person look crappy.

The trick with fallout 3 is playing in 3rd person with the camera close enough over the shoulder to not show him wogging (which looks equally as crappy as guns in 1st person). That + use VATS is how FO3 is meant to be played.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AR_15 Not much has changed except flat top receivers and heat shields... Since i know it's going to come up... M4 and M16 (they are both the same weapon with different features) were production serial numbers, not the designation of the rifle type, let me reiterate; both the M4 and the M16 are AR style rifles. Oh, and AR DOES NOT stand for Assault Rifle.

The reason he's firing fast is because he's attacking in V.A.T.S., and the targeted area was obscured before the queued shots finished. When that happens, the attacks are greatly accelerated when the character returns to real time.

I'd have to disagree sir, the Assault Carbine is virtually identical to the Colt Commando branch of the CAR-15 family.

Just take a look at http://world.guns.ru/assault/as50-e.htm and compare it to the Assault Carbine- the second image is practically a spitting image of the Assault Carbine.
Now you can compare it to the http://world.guns.ru/assault/as17-e.htm. You'll notice immediately that it looks very similar to the CAR-15 family. This is illustrative that the M4 is not really a modern gun at all, it's the evolution of a 1950s design, and the direct descendant of a 1960s design. But compare and you'll see some differences, as well as features shared by the Commando and the Assault Carbine.

Most prominent is the carrying handle- you'll notice that on every version of the M4, even the original model, has a removable carrying handle, unlike the CAR-15. You'll also notice some adjustment dials which are not present on the older rifle. The Commando also has a shorter barrel than the M4. Both of these features are present on the Assault Carbine.

So no, those designs did not have a different look than the gun in our game, in fact they match the look of our gun nearly exactly. Hope this was informative.

About that sight post... it's not so much that it's small, it's just you can't see any defined prongs on the post that are typical of an AR front sight...
Now remember kiddies, this gun fires 5mm, read: minigun ammo, AK-112 ammo, etc.- so it's not exactly a real gun. They may have given it a unique iron sight system that does not exist in real life to differentiate it with real designs, like they did with the wood furniture on the M16 lookalike and M60 lookalike.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a mod that increased the rate-of-fire for bolt-action rifles, so that could be another explanation.

I know that in the vault, there is some info on one of the rifles (too lazy to look right meow) that confirmes this... Lightweight bolt or otherwise similar...

The hunting rifle has a custom bolt mod which I can only assume decreases the cycling time.

But, one thing I noticed is that it looked like the old .22 varmint rifle was in there, as opposed to the .223 one that's in now, the magazine looks small (maybe that's just me) but the bolt looks like it has a very short action that would be normal for a .22, I think even sawyer mentioned that he was going to miss the .22 bolt action because of its tiny 1/2 inch bolt animation.

The rounds it's ejecting are a little large for .22, but that error is also seen being repeated on the .22 SMG, so that doesn't mean anything.
Footage from an old build perhaps?

"The Colt Automatic Rifle-15 Military Weapons System or CAR-15 was a family of AR-15 and M16 rifle"

Ta-mate-o ta-mat-o. Essentially a CAR-15 is a AR-15 it was an attempt by colt to reassociate with the AR but they obviously weren't ArmaLite. I had intended to make the entire quote a link to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAR-15 but forgot to.

Well that's an obvious point, M-16, M4, Colt Commando, they're all part of the AR-15 family.
I think the point he was trying to make is the Assault Carbine is dissimilar to the original AR-15 designs, like the top image on http://world.guns.ru/assault/as18-e.htm, but he also mentions the CAR-15 of which the Assault Carbine is a spitting image (of the carbine designs at least).

Yeah i can understand that. I guess my point is they come in all shapes and sizes i have a custom upper made by CMMG stainless A2 16" barrel with 1/7 rifling with a flat top receiver dropped on a stag lower with a six position stock (Leupold CQT optics too, nothing like dumping 850 bucks on a illuminated scope...). So if you want a specific production line to choose from i don't think you will find one that matches Fallout, i suppose it could be blamed on the divergent timeline.

Oh side note, it has been very enjoyable discussing this. I am trying really hard to shorten my posts as my long weapon monologues seem to be thread killers and it's always fun to discuss firearms.

How are you liking that Stag lower? I've been trying to get a whole rifle but am having trouble finding a dealer in the area.

I'm satisfied, although the mating between the upper and lower receiver is super tight, not sure which is to blame though. I like Rock River Arms a lot if you are looking for an alternative, i find some of their stuff to be overpriced though.

It's difficult to compare civilian AR's to military spec ones because civilians can do all sorts of funky things with their AR's due to the modularity of the design.
Military rifles however will be more standardized, and you can usually nail down a military rifle to one distinct configuration (more helpful to view them as configurations than as separate weapons), whereas that might be more difficult to do with a rifle that you put together out of mixed and matched uppers and lowers, never mind different barrels, grips, rails systems, gas tubes (and piston kits).

It's sort of like buying a computer pre assembled vs putting together one yourself. You could say "Oh that's an Alienware" but inside the tower is a big mix and match of all sorts of parts because you only got an alienware tower. However, a Dell XPS laptop will probably be easily identifiable as such, and since it's a laptop it's not likely to be customized in any way.

At any rate I guess my point is that I think you can make a good case to compare the Assault Carbine to standardized military rifle configurations which have clear and specific designations and descriptions, as opposed to a civilian rifle where the most encompassing thing you can say may only be "It's an AR", without going into specifics of how you have a Alexander Arms .50 Beowulf upper and a colt lower and this special barrel from LaRue tactical and all that business.

Ah, Larue the Ferrari of the AR, i have a QD mount and rail guard made by them, love em both.

Nice to know. I'm left-handed, which is what got me interested in one in the first place.

I'm gonna get one sooner or later, it's just the matter of finding one.

Same here, being left handed that is. Aaand I suppose getting an AR as well. I barely have time to shoot as it is- one day when I have more free time I'll devote some of it to building a fancy barbie doll gun, so to speak.

Right now I'm content to plink with my Kel-Tec SU-16- left friendly due to the brass deflecting charging handle I've installed.
They say that Kel-Tecs have short barrel lives but I don't shoot nearly enough to wear it out.

They had one of those at the local shop I go to and I looked it over a few times. It seems like an awesome truck gun what with the folding and the mag in the stock.

You can disagree with me all you want and argue why the gun should've been included but I don't think it should've been because it represents a time which is divergent from the fallout universe. That is my unwaverable opinion.

Thats just me and I really don't mind conceding this one thing because there's so many other things in the game I'm excited about.

One thing though, if you're so sure it's the Colt version then why are there repteated videos with an ACOG sight mounted on it?

That's actually a different gun, the "http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Marksman_carbine", which has a lot more modern features like the RAILS, RAILS EVERYWHERE, and obviously the ACOG, as well as a Magpul-esque precision stock.

That's REALLY the gun you should be complaining about as it doesn't really fit at all with retro futurism theme, but I'm reserving judgment on it for now.

Explain to me, how is it affected by time divergence since it has been in use since 1958?