Someone needs to make Jonathan into a settlement weapon vendor for Fallout 4, where he is constantly disgusted by/critical of the weapons he has to sell.
To be fair to New Vegas, it's indicated that a huge chunk of the "old" weapons there are actually new reproductions built on industrial scale (the Gun Runners greatly benefit the NCR and the NCR greatly benefits the Gun Runners).
@@BradTheAmerican Uhmm.. Basically there's a couple problems. [They said the show is canon to the games btw] Mr. House apparently is complicit in helping Vault Tec nuke the earth so they could have a monopoly after the radiation dissapates which imo completely changes his character and motivations. But MUCH more importantly: The new antagonist nuked Shady Sands 3 years before New Vegas takes place. New Vegas as we know it simply couldn't have taken place under those circumstances. Not only do a ton of the NCR guys talk about "family back home" and a few even namedrop Shady Sands directly but... How could we have not known? And NCR is presented in NV as being very stable and resource rich, not exactly something that a group who's main base of operations got nuked would be. Basically they've retconned the story as we know it.
The shredder bayonet attachment on the mini gun is supposed to be used with the manual spin. So the you just walk into your enemies with a spinning blender, but instead the guy filming didn't know that
12:50 i cannot believe they decided to show the shredder attachment, show clips of people being hit in melee with it but NOT a clip of the shredder actually being used properly. It does not increase melee bash damage at all, it deals continuous damage to targets in front of you as you keep the barrels rotating. Its like running at people with a blender taped to your gun, wicked fun.
So, fun fact about the laser weapons in fallout. All of their 'batteries' are essentially contained miniature fusion reactors. The fallout universe was literally on the precipice of going from major scarcity to a post scarcity society with a lot of their tech. But yeah, inside those miniature fusion reactors is the same insane amount of power, but the barrel of each laser weapon is what decides the range/firing mode, while the capacitor in the back is what really increases power by deciding how much power per shot you're drawing.
And the laser emitters are pretty much just 1980s laser gun-aiming devices scaled up, when laser "sights" were new they were big chonky rectangular boxes on top of a .44 Magnum revolver or a rifle.
Fun fact about this fun fact, there's a chance they aren't actually fusion reactors at all. The company that makes these cells, Mass Fusion, was engaged in multiple instances of saying they're using fusion-based technology, when they are actually using fission reactors instead. Its all just marketing ploys, deception of the public, and outright fraud. They didn't develop real fusion until mere months before the bombs dropped, and that was on a scale that took up an entire building floor. So, based on the way they behave (like emitting radiation/exploding when damaged, which a fusion reactor wouldn't do) there is a good chance that the "fusion" cells, as well as the larger "fusion" cores, are actually tiny fission reactors.
Hearing Johnathan say "not to alarm you" followed by a sentence that includes "of questionable legality" is something I didn't expect to fill me with so much joy. But it does.
So I keep hearing him mention that guns in fallout should be rusted to nothing and basically unusable, however, he may not be aware of it but there are weapon manufacturers that are still active in the wasteland like the Gun Runners from Fallout New Vegas.
@@MandalorV7 Naw. Once the formula for smokeless gunpowder was discovered, there's not really any reason to go back to blackpowder. Smokeless gunpowder is superior in just about every way, and just as easy to make. The reason that black powder pre-dates smokeless gunpowder is simply because it was easier to discover black powder. Same thing for muzzle loaders. I could see going back to breach loaders, but not muzzle loaders. The Victorian era tech for muzzle loaders could've easily produced breach loading guns. They just didn't.
@@alexsawickismokeless propellants aren’t easy to make though, you can mix up black powder from ingredients found at a hardware store while nitrocellulose requires an actual chemistry facility
In fallout, especially fallout 4, stuff is weirdly well preserved. Like, you've got preserved foods and stuff, but there's stuff like signed baseballs that are just sitting around untouched, to say nothing of piles of newspapers or Environmental Storytelling Skeletons still posed in the position that they were in when they died. Honestly, the whole world feels like the apocalypse happened about 30 years ago, tops.
"So this thing is...weird." When Jonathan Ferguson, the keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armories museum in the UK, says that about a _Fallout_ weapon, that carries so much weight it's overencumbered.
Fun fact Jonathan Ferguson, the keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armories museum in the UK, in Fallout 1 and 2 most of the people and also enemies you met that was not part of a major faction would be wery light on the firearm side. With most average raiders, slavers and others being armed with some form of melee weapon. And when they had a firearm it would usually be a 10mm pistol, dual barreled shotgun or a .223 hunting rifle. Anything better than that would be wery rare. In a group of ten raiders only two or three would have firearms. Likewise they would be wery limited on how much ammo they would have, Some would not even have a single reload for ther weapon. It would not be unlimited as it is for the NPC´s in the Bethesda games.
Even in F1, that kinda depends on location. Sure, bandsits of all sorts are rather poorly armed. Brotherood or supermutant patrols you can also encounter definietly pack some major heat . F2 goes even further with Enclave patrols or bounty hunters really beeing armed to the teeth with some of game best guns.
@@ComissarYarrick The Enclave is a major faction, and can make ther own weapons, armor and ammo. And most of the mutants may pack some major heat, but rarely have any spare ammo for ther weapons. And you kinda expect bounthunters to both know what they do, and be wellarmed with guns they have got from either Reno, NCR or San Francisco. Good guns and armor is rather costly tho, and for good reason.
This could also be applied to Caesar's Legion. The Legion is definitely a strong, capable, post-apocalyptic army. But we're also told that Legion recruits aren't given guns, and have to "earn" them. While there are certainly ideological and political explanations for that, it wouldn't surprise me if that policy was also economically motivated. It could well be that the Legion just... doesn't have that many guns to give out, or not enough skilled gunsmiths to keep up with demand.
@@tbotalpha8133 Legion definitely dont have big enough industry nor armory. Tribes that raided pre war military armory enjoyed a lot of autonomy even if they are technically under Legion banner.
The Davy Crockett had a jeep mounted version. So you drive up to the enemy, fire off the munition, and then your driver floors it with the hope of getting a decent distance.
12:52 fun fact, the shredder is supposed to be used with a minigun that has no ammo, making it a melee weapon that shreds enemies with the rusty metal spining around on the barrels and yes. this works in the game!
The “Shredder” barrel attachment makes the gun act like a chainsaw when you have no ammo. Keep that barrel spinning and “LEROOYYYY JENNNNKINNNS!!!” the enemy 😂
Archaeologist AND firearms expert? What can't Jonathan Ferguson, the keeper of firearms and artillery at the Royal Armouries Museum in the UK which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history do?
@@waltonsimons9082 I mean, it's a bit of a stretch, but sure. Not really though. I'd imagine that most firearms from history are already well-documented and while they'd probably be a good find for an archaeologist, it probably wouldn't shed new light on anything that is already known.
@samuelsmith2247 Finding rounds can be useful in battlefield archaeology, especially if they are date stamped like British. 303 rounds. Note it doesn't have to provide new information to be useful, but it gives physical confirmation to the written record. The dig team I worked with used this as a means to confirm context when excavating trenches on the Western Front.
Please Jonathan Ferguson, the keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries museum in the UK, break down the weapons from *METAL GEAR SOLID 3* before the remake comes out. So many weapons in MGS3 to react and comment on like the Patriot's infinite ammo magazine, the EZ tranq gun, Snake's customized officer M1911A1, Snake whittling the pistol grip to use a knife for CQC, Ocelot's SAA juggling skills, The End's paratrooper tranquilizer Mosin Nagant, the Davey Crockett recoil-less nuclear launcher, Eva's chinese Type 17 mauser clone with her "bandit shooting" technique and Volgin's electricity discharging the 7.62mm bullets. There are so many more other interesting trivias and weapons in MGS3 so please Dave and Johnathan, please consider making a video for the MGS3.
I think I've mentioned it in a previous video, but Fallout's laser weapons actually have a lot of thought put into why they look and act like that. By the time the bombs fell the AER-12 laser guns we see in the 3D Fallouts were already woefully obsolete and almost completely replaced by the Wattz rifles seen in the isometric games. The thing is that Wattz laser rifles are much more fragile and difficult to repair so the chunky obsolete models outlived them. There's also a tiny detail on the AER-14 Prototype in New Vegas that explains that most of the laser's light is in high infrared but they use second harmonic generation to give it a visible tracer.
@DamnedSilly The recoil is entirely artificial. The logic was that soldiers would expect recoil and ran into issues in trials when they ended up attempting to counter recoil, which wasn't actually there.
@@tommarsdon5644 Given the damage they do in game lasers should produce virtually no recoil. Of course, they shouldn't be able to randomly turn things into a pile of ash either as that would require vastly more energy. So, why do lasers in games have recoil? Because it's a game.
I'd love to see Jonathan reacting to the dlc weapons of Fallout New Vegas like the LAER, Holorifle, Red Glare, Shoulder Mounted Machine Gun and K9000 Machine Gun.
I like how nuclear weapons, that could destroy the planet, are only scary to kids in the 80's. Good thing we live in a time of cool heads and non-crazy dictatorships- oh.
I didn't thankfully, not until my early 20s. All I saw as a kid was When the Wind Blows (bad enough!), my dad's copy of 'Protect & Survive' and various news/documentary TV things.
In game you can visit the base that developed the fatman launcher, there you find that the fatman does have a rocket asist engine that is fired when the weapon is fired. turning the fatman into a shoulder mounted mortor.
A correction, there is 5,56mm in the Fallout universe, Fallout 3 introduced those as F1 and F2 had only .223. In the game lore 5mm was a cartridge that was superseded by 5,56 but it found its niche in the Minigun series of guns. So 5mm is not in game analog of 5,56, they coexist in this world.
lorewise there is a reason for weapons looing this new: there are several factions that have startet forging new weapons (the machinists/gunrunners for instance) and there are factions that have startet producing metal (like in the Pitt)
Yes, I had forgotten about that. Not all of them though, presumably, and there's lots lying around in FO games that is meant to be 200+ years old, not just weapons. Most of the structures, cars, cans etc should be dust.
@@jonathanferguson1211 In general I think you're correct. However, there are some abandoned machines today that have been sitting to rust for 100 years, like the Ghost Trains of the Eagle Lake and West Branch Railroad, and for 100 years in a rainy forest in Maine without restoration, they're looking not that bad. Combining that with the idea of alloys that create oxides that serve as a protective layer, like aluminiumoxides do, then 200+ years might just be possible in a fictional world
@@theredestbull Wow, I didn't know about those trains - remarkable! But they were abandoned in 1933 *inside a shed* until the late 60s and have been painted since being outdoors at least once. Even then they're unusually well-preserved. The condition of most stuff in Fallout is maybe 50 years max. They have rooms in houses still with wallpaper for goodness sake :)
@@jonathanferguson1211 one could argue that atleast some of the stuff has been kept in good condition by the people who survived, but yeah... but then I remember the B-29 that the courier lifted from the bottom of lake mead in new vegas, which was in better shape in 2281 in the game than the actual plane down that lake is today
Heat Shields like that are so you don't get heat waves coming off the barrel and affecting your optic picture. It also helps the barrel from heating in the sun and affecting accuracy. I'm sure there's some applications for IR stealth, but its not common.
In a BoS quest you're explicitly told the FM has a third of the power of a ballistic missile's warhead. Bethesda has no sense of scale. As for Fallout's "5mm", it has *always* existed alongside 5.56 in the series (in Fallout 1 and 2 a .223 semi-auto "hunting rifle" is one of the first weapons you find better than the starting pistol while the "assault rifle" in 5mm, said to have been out of service by 2077, is an end-game weapon) which just raises further questions. New Vegas had the only real attempt to explain what it was by giving it the ability to ignore a lot of armor, implying it's some kind of high velocity narrow diameter round specialized in anti-armor at the cost of everything else. (the Mophideous pen and paper RPG continued its feast or famine with lore explanations by confirming a lot of our history of 5.56 is still true in Fallout, but the only lore it has on "5mm" is that it was used by the military and is found in large stashes when it is found) 79th week of asking for Bullet Girls Phantasia to be covered, 10th week of asking for Loadout on how games handle character progression mixed with guns (characters stats, finding new weapons)
Fallout's 5mm make sense to me. In order to fire minigun handheld, irl, you need to reduce recoil. To do that you need to reduce impulse, which equals to m*v. If you cut down weight of bullet in half and increase velocity at least 50% You will end up with 25% less recoil, but 12.5% more muzzle energy. Also thinner bullet might be better at armor piercing. That and also them being ap rounds make up for convincing idea of why they ignore armor this much.
@@VK-sz4itrecoil can be mitigated by power armor as well though. Ammo supply is a fairly convincing reason for a smaller caliber and the low rate of fire at least. Those drums of 500 we get in game would fit even fewer rounds and be chewed through very fast at the correct rate of fire with the regular caliber. Though I dont really know what benefit they are getting over a more conventional LMG or why they have these when gattling lasers exist. And also all this gets thrown out the window because the one on the helicopter mount at the start of fo4 is also in 5mm.
@@misterperson3469 True. It's not that consistent, but still better then in many games. Josh Sawyer was gun enthusiast, so he designed ammo quite well in Fallout New Vegas, while still they were rooted in stylistic choices of previous Fallouts. Minigun has benefit over LMG in only thing. It is 250% more cool.
Imo the grineer weapons would make the most sense for that, Karak, gorgon, hek, brakk, buzzlok, ignis, quartok, all fantastical concepts but at least rooted in reality somewhat. Can't really see them trying to dissect what makes tla lanka, lenz, or incarnons tick 😅
6:38, the fatman takes inspiration from the M38/M39 Davy Crockett launcher which was sort of a shoulder or crew fired nuke launcher firing the M388 device which roughly looks like the fatman rounds.
0:01 - And THIS is his weapon. She weighs one hundred fifty kilograms and fires two hundred dollar, custom-tooled cartridges at ten thousand rounds per minute. It costs four hundred thousand dollars to fire this weapon...for twelve seconds.
If it's not too much, I have a request for Jonathan Ferguson, the keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armories museum in the UK to take a look at the weapons and weaponised vehicles from Pandemic's The Saboteur. The game recently got a re-release on steam, and while it features a lot of the usual WW2 arsenal it also has a lot of interesting vehicles, artillery pieces (including some massive building-sized guns), fictional and prototype-esque guns and tanks. There is also an opportunity to talk about the real life inspiration for the game and its protagonist and assess if explosives you use throughout the game would actually be able to do that amount of damage.
Regarding microwave weaponry, I think I saw a video on it - it's a riot control vehicle with microwave emitter, which is not lethal in any capacity, but makes the targets just uncomfortably hot, like in a desert hot. The vid is called "Non-Lethal Weapon: Active Denial System (ADS)" and it was on YT for at least 12 years now.
not sure if jonathan reads this but if i remember correctly in universe the Fatman works as a pneumatic and pushing type of weapon, the munition moves in a sled that is powered pneumatic power. and there is some mechanical assist. so in essanse its a sholder fired catapult. with pneumatic systems
Syringer particularly the “Endangeral Syringe” is really useful on very hard and survival difficulties. You shoot it to get the 25% damage resistance debuff on target then swap to your main weapon. Works really well in 76 on bosses too.
Jonathan Ferguson keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armouries in the UK, i'd love to see you react to Generation Zero, the guns are greatly represented (to me atleast) and i'd love your opinion on it. As well as the sounds.
good game that. i would watch that video if Jonathan Ferguson, the keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries museum in the UK and the guys at GameSpot would make it
Always good to see a new video with Jonathan Ferguson, The Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armories Museum in the UK, home to thousands of iconic weapons throughout history; and looking at Fallout guns makes it instantly better :D
16:33 I love keeping the syringer handy for when I want to sit back on a nearby hill and have the bad guys to fight eachother. Also great for a sentry on a ledge to try to make them fall a far distance
Would be super cool to see some of Jonathan's takes on weapons featured in the TV series (although to be fair many of them are simply real world guns too) . Can't recall if Fallout 76 has been covered as part of this series before but it's ripe for picking as well, with a good amount of weapon designs from the real world as well as the Fallout universe.
I think thats a Creation Club version of the Microwave gun using the Gamma gun model cos from memory a Gamma gun just isnt going to cut it against something rad resistant like a Mirelurk
Something I considered with fallout weapons was with ammo probably being extremely rare; would there be a return to black power, paper cartridges, and far less automatic weapons. It wouldn’t be as fun of course but it’s interesting to consider at least.
On the BAR: You can get one in New Vegas in the Dead Money DLC as the "Automatic Rifle" and fires .308 because the devs decided against making an ammo type for a unique gun locked behind an unmarked side quest in the base game
I like how Jonathan acknowledges that weapons make little sense IRL but still appreciates their context in-universe. Not a lot of experts make that distinction!
That's why one of my 1st FO4 mods was a weapon overhaul with ammo mods and turned as many weapons to "righthanded" as possible. (not a big fan of this over modular-ed crafting system. sure u can tinker with equipment in real too, and even go crazy with it, but it a bit too "extreme") Also that's why i only upgrade the rocket-launcher (i think its called "Rockwell"... something) to fire maximum 3 rockets, the 4X mod makes no sense! Lasers in most (99%) games and sci-fi is a visible slow projectile, so no hard feeling for that. Tough in Star Trek and Star Wars they try not use the word "laser" when it comes for weapons.
I didn't know ... the Fatman always reminded me of some sort of semi pneumatic slingshot (due to the bands and tanks at the sides and what seems to be a pressure gauge) sized up to launch the mini nukes.
One fun game that I don't think has gotten brought up yet (or much at all generally) is Brigador. It's got a ton of real-life vehicle-mounted weapons like M2 HMGs GAU-8 Avengers but also a ton of really fascinating sci-fi stuff that at least seems rooted in reality.
13:00 fallout 2 has the vindicator minigun in 4.7mm caseless, new vegas has the smmg in 10mm, fido in .44, and k9000 in .357, both tactics and 76 feature the gauss minigun in 2mm EC, tactics also having the avenger in 5.56mm, and it's variant of vindicator is in 7.62mm
Dave Barrak's wonderful GrrlPower comic has a handheld minigun with bayonets on it. It is called 'The Auger' for VERY good reason as we see a couple of times. Super powers meet super gun. Ouch!
I tend to have a hunting rifle with a short barrel and full stock as an early game weapon, since it feels much easier to handle in close quarters. I usually replace it with a lever-action after starting Far Harbor, and the hunting rifle then gets a scope and a longer barrel
Watching this made me miss things from fallout 3... the backpacks you had with the minigun and gatling laser were awesome concepts and actually made sense- with the minigun, it stored all the ammo you had for the weapon, so you could essentially fire until completely dry. And the gatling laser just looked like one giant 9v battery xD. I also miss the missile launchers overall design.. it was sleek and space age looking..
i feel like the ability to move while wielding the minigun, and equivalent weapons, should only be plausible while in power armor; also, the electricity needed to fire the rounds could be supplied by hooking the gun up to the armor
I'm kinda sad that this is missing the M2045 Magnum Revolver Rifle, which isn't a Creation Club weapon but it's still my favourite weapon ever - A big ol' Anti-Power Armour rifle
given that there we Green Light Teams that were supposed to deploy with Special Atomic Demolition Munitions, i.e. man-portable nuclear bombs, behind enemy lines, perhaps having a shoulder-launched nuclear missile would not have been that far-off, since those atomic demolition munitions had a relatively short timer making the chances of survival rather slim.
I think part of the reason the laser and plasma weapons look so awkward, with critical bits exposed is that they were relatively new at the time the bombs fell.
Honestly, I'd like to see both the backpack and drum fed mini guns together in the same game. The back mounted ones are for squad support, while the drum fed ones are designed exclusively for Power Armor assault teams with jump packs. The limited capacity compared to an ammo pack wouldn't matter, as they'd be using hit and fade tactics. Maybe carry a heavy pistol to pick off stragglers once the drum is depleted.
I feel like when you look at the laser weapons, and then the institute guns, it makes me think that at one point all of the laser weapons had a outer casing that was more conventional, but it has since deteriorated away or been removed to make personal modifications or repairs
I'm pretty sure the Reba 2 rifle shown is not stock, it's supposed to have a legendary effect of some sort (bonus to mirelurks IIRC) and by default comes with a long barrel (dunno which one though)
Oh, nice take on these; now I miss playing it again; doesn't help that; my friends and I decided to binge watch the entire Fallout series awhile ago. ;-;7
Oh! I know the answer for the weird reloads on the Laser weapons - they're greebled like that because they're re-creations of pre-war prototypes that hadn't made it to mass production; all of them are made using parts copied from the design that was found, and few people have made good replacers; the batteries are ejected weirdly because it's using a standardized power cell intended for military use in frontline equipment like radios and the like.
Since there have been several crossover episodes on forgotten weapons, and Royal armories. I think we need an episode here guest starring Gun Jesus alongside Jonathan Ferguson keeper firearms and artillery at the Royal Armories in the UK which houses thousands of unique weapons throughout history.
Gun Jesus is probably not the best one for this, based off of his own breakdowns of video game guns. If they had an episode where they were breaking down a mil sim though, I could see that one being entertaining because of how much Gun Jesus dislikes the game/fun concessions that are made in video games.
important to note, firearms haven't just been lying around for 200 years. some people who wasn't sheltered by the vaults also survived out in the world (a lot turned to ghouls but sone function fine without turning feral) some vaults also never closed or were designed to let people out right after the bombs dropped. some vaults were also stocked with guns. and New Vegas was spared from most of the nukes thanks to Mr. House. and also Super Mutants could have taken care of some guns i guess (a few of them are smart)
There is a BAR in New Vegas. It's just called the Automatic Rifle and found in the Sierra Madre DLC. Also with hand loaded 7.62 jacketed soft points it's one of the best guns in FO:NV. There is also a non lethal micromave weapon used for crowd control called an ADS (Area Denial System) in use in the current day. Just look up ADS on wikipedia.
I really appreciate that he can review and compare against real world weapons and have a realistic critical take while also understanding and acknowledging that all that really matters with fictional weapons is that they fit their setting and look sweet
The rocket launcher actually has a three round version that uses a horizontal clip/magazine mechanism which seems much more mechanically plausible. The four round version is the highest tier of the rocket launcher, but I always prefer the three round for aesthetic reasons.
Hearing Jonathan mention the left handed bolt on the Hunting Rifle made me laugh because one of the mods I ALWAYS use is to make the bolt on the right side instead. I guess it was made with left hand bolt just to show off the animation? Feels a bit weird because the ejected cases are flying into your face with the left hand ejection XD
i think the combat rifle from fo4 is already kinda based on the BAR heavily, and judging by the name of it, the CR-74L is just like a fancy version of the CR so yeah its just a BAR with greeblies on it
2:00 I'm reading a book now that Jonathan helped write about guns from 200 years in the past that have survived, some in beautiful condition, until present day. 13:52 I thought you were going to say Type 96 and/or Type 99 light machine guns with bayonets.
So the way the shredder attachment works on the minigun is you have to fire it without any ammo in the gun or your inventory(because of automatic reload mechanics) and it will shred enemies in melee. In that regards it's kind of a cool attachment taking an old weapon that you presumably have no ammo for and still turning it into an automatic killing machine.
I hope and wish that Jonathan Ferguson, the keeper of firearms and artillery at the Royal Armouries Museum in the UK which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history will do a reaction video on the weapons from Red Orchestra 2 at some point.
My thoughts on the Miniguns ammunition being generic 5mm is that it’s inspired by Colt’s 5.56x30 MARS experimental munitions. The basic idea of making a shorter 5.56x45 NATO cartridge that was optimized for shorter 10 inch barrels instead of a longer 20 inch. Fallout 1 and 5.56x30 MARS were both in development at the same time in the 90’s, so awareness is possible.
In defense of the Reba II, it is not an old rifle you find. It is a custom built rifle by an NPC you meet. Also, the one shown is heavily modified. When you get it, it comes with a full stock and a scope on top.
I'm sure many mentioned Fatman lore is known, they had difficulties how to shoot rhe mininuke far enough the solution is propellant in the mini nuke, a smaller charge, like a mortar shell. To he Fatman mostly just guides it for aiming purposes
the use of the nuke launcher in game is 100% accurate to what Jonathan is saying about it. if you don't have like a 100ft drop for it to be sent over, you will die 6/8 shots and thats without the MIRV.
2:20 Even back in the original Fallout there is a area where the Gun Runners repaired and operate a weapons and ammo factory. Using scrap metal and other scavanged materials. They are referenced in NV as well. So there is weapon manufacturing in the West coast. The NCR even has a mechanised Division in the Army, but they have supply issues with tires and other degradabla materiel, severly limiting them. Bethesda makes ppl live in 200+ year old runis with the skeletons intact so yeah ... no comment for the East Coast.
Jonathan might like the old book series Deathlands, which itself is about as close to a Fallout book series as we've got. Got a bunch of unique weapons, some real world and some alt history, but overall firearms are very scarce in the world with most long since being used up. The only ones really available are with the very power or found in big underground bunkers.
I'd like to think the CR-74L could be used sorta like a Mini-14. While it looks nothing like the Ruger mini-14, but it does have that rifle stock/grip setup and is at least magazine fed.
Fun fact, the Fallout version of the ATF is called ADTFL: Bureau of Alcohol, Drugs, Tabacco, Firearms and Lasers. So if you put a short barrel or even a brace onto that laser pistol, you better get your ADTFL tax stamp beforehand!
