These are the best pistols in Fallout 4 and where you can find them

❘ Updated: 2024-04-25T14:20:00

Bethesda

Fallout 4 has a plethora of Pistols to choose from so if you’re wondering which sidearm to go for, here’s a list of some of the best Pistols in the game.

Fallout 4 has a huge arsenal of weapons for players to choose from, ranging from blazing swords to literal nuke launchers. There’s also a lot of Pistols on offer if you like to keep things simple or prefer a Gunslinger build.

Don’t let the size of these guns fool you as some of them really pack a punch. These are the best Pistols you can find in Fallout 4.

Contents

Deliverer
Kellogg’s Pistol
Wastelander’s Friend
The Gainer
Western Revolver
Explosive 10mm pistol
Old Faithful
Eddie’s Peace
Lorenzo’s Artifact Gun
Hub’s Alien Blaster pistol
Plasma Pistol
Acid Soaker
Salvaged Assaultron Head
Survivor’s Special
Zeta Gun

1. Deliverer

Damage: 25
Ammo: 10mm round
Magazine Size: 12
Fire rate: 66
Range: 53
Accuracy: 67
AP cost: 26

Bonus effect: Improved VATS hit chance, 25% less Action Point cost.

Recommended mods: Advanced Receiver, Extended Barrel, Sharpshooter’s Grip, Large Quick Eject Mag, Glow Sights, Suppressor

If you have played Fallout 4 for a while you know how good the Deliverer is, not only is it the best pistol in the game, but it is also one of the best weapons overall. Paired with the suppressor attachment and reduced recoil, the Deliverer is best suited for stealth builds such as the Infiltrator build which heavily relies on the use of VATS.

Location: To get the Deliverer go to the Old North Church and head down into the catacombs. You will then come across a bronze plate with Boston, the Freedom Trail written on it. Interact with the plate to spell out the world, R-A-I-L-R-O-A-D.

Once this is done, a door will open to a secret passage beside the plate. Enter the room and speak with Deacon to unlock a quest called the Tradecraft. Once the quest is finished, you will then be rewarded with the Deliverer.

2. Kellogg’s Pistol

Damage: 48
Ammo: 10mm round
Magazine Size: 12
Fire rate: 6
Range: 119
Accuracy: 70
AP cost: 20

Bonus effect: Refills your AP on a Critical Hit.

Recommended mods: Advanced Receiver, Bull Barrel, Comfort Grip, Short Scope

Kellogg’s Pistol is a weapon that thrives on its effect which refills your Action Points on every critical hit. You can pair this with an Overdrive chem to essentially get an unlimited amount of Action Points. All you have to do is pull of a critical hit to refill your Action Points, use the Points to get more VATS hits, fill the critical meter to get one more critical hit, and repeat the cycle.

Location: To get the Kellogg’s Pistol, start the main story quest “Reunions” given Nick Valentine. You will then have to head to Fort Hagen and take down Kellogg to get it.

3. Wastelander’s Friend

Damage: 18
Ammo: 10mm round
Magazine Size: 24
Fire rate: 46
Range: 83
Accuracy: 76

Bonus effect: +50% limb damage.

Recommended mods: Powerful Automatic Receiver, Muzzle Brake, Large Quick Eject Mag, Sharpshooter’s Grip, Long Light Ported Barrel

Wastelander’s Friend is a unique 10mm pistol that paired a whopping 50% limb damage when it’s used with it’s bonus effect. Making it a great gun for immobilizing enemies. You can even increase the base damage from 18 to up to 60 using various perks. The 100mm ammo is also light in your pocket.

Location: You can buy this weapon from Deb at Bunker’s Hill as shown on the map above.

4. The Gainer

Damage: 48
Ammo: .44 round
Magazine Size: 6
Fire rate: 6
Range: 119
Accuracy: 74

Bonus effect: Sets target on fire dealing 15 points of damage.

Recommended mods: Advanced Receiver, Bull Barrel, Comfort Grip, Reflex Sight

The Gainer is a unique .44 Pistol that is fairly easy to get while also dealing a significant amount of damage. While the ammo is quite hard to come by, it’s a great gun to use against fast-moving enemies. Using the Gainer also feels really cool as it sets your enemies on fire.

Location: Head to Vitale Pumphouse as indicated on the map and walk through the open door, past the hallway to go down a pair of stairs. You will then come across a locked door beside a machine with buttons.

Each button has to be pressed a certain number of times for the door to open. From left to right press each button the following amount of times: 10, 4, 5, 1. You can then walk into the room and pick up the Gainer lying beside a corpse.

5. Western Revolver

Damage: 60 (Attack)
Ammo: .44 round
Magazine Size: 6
Fire rate: 6
Range: 179
Accuracy: 66
AP cost: 28

Bonus effect: None

Recommended mods: Advanced Receiver, Long Barrel, Sharpshooter’s Grip, Standard Sights

If the Deliverer is too overpowered for you, Western Revolver is the perfect match if you’re looking for a weapon that lands a solid punch while keeping things interesting. It looks aesthetically pleasing staying true to its Western roots and and works really well with the Gunslinger perk.

Location: To get the Western Revolver, head to the Eastern entrance to Dry Rock Gulch as shown on the above map and talk to Sheriff Eagle. After talking to him, head down the street to find a Blacksmith building. Once there, talk to One-Eyed Ike and accept to duel him upon which he will give you the Western Revolver.

6. Explosive 10mm pistol

Damage: 105
Ammo: 10mm
Magazine Size: 6
Fire rate: 127
Range: 89
Accuracy: 76

Bonus effect: Bullets explode on impact doing 15 points area of damage.

Recommended mods: Powerful Automatic Receiver, Long Light Ported Barrel, Sharpshooter’s Grip, Large Quick Eject Mag, Recon Scope, Suppressor

Explosive weapons are some of the most beloved in Fallout 4 and the same goes for the 10mm Explosive pistol. You can get the 10mm pistol quite early on, however, to find its legendary explosive variant you might need to do some farming.

Location: There’s no sure-shot way to get this weapon. However, what you can do is go to Faneuil Hall, save your game outside the location and keep defeating Legendary Protectron Guardians. If you don’t get the weapon, simply reload your game until you’re finally able to loot the it from one of the Guardians.

7. Old Faithful

Damage: 24
Ammo: Fusion cell
Magazine Size: 30
Fire rate: 50
Range: 71
Accuracy: 71

Bonus effect: Does double damage if the target is at full health.

Recommended mods: Overcharged Capacitor, Improved Sniper Barrel, Recoil Compensating Stock, Long Recon Scope, Fine-Tuned Beam Focuser

Old Faithful is a laser pistol with a unique effect that does double the damage if your target is at full health. Additionally, it can be heavily modded to make it into a one-shot kill sniper rifle.

Location: You can buy this weapon from Arturo from Commonwealth Weaponry at Diamond City Market.

8. Eddie’s Peace

Damage: 48
Ammo: .44 round
Magazine Size: 6
Fire rate: 6
Range: 83
Accuracy: 81
AP cost: 26.25

Bonus effect: +50% more limb damage.

Recommended mods: Standard Receiver, Snubnose Barrel, Comfort Grip, Short Scope

Eddie’s Peace is a pistol that does a fair amount of damage which is extremely effective when paired with it’s bonus limb damage effect. That being said, the projectiles it shoots are quite slow and a more powerful alternative to this gun would be the Wastelander’s Friend which has the same effect but is a better overall weapon.

Location: Head to Andrew Station and start the quest Long Time Coming quest and kill Eddie. You can then loot his body to get the Pistol.

9. Lorenzo’s Artifact Gun

Damage: 25 (Explosion) + 10 (Radiation)
Ammo: Gamma round
Magazine size: 8
Fire rate: 66
Range: 203
Accuracy: 69

Bonus effect: Stuns/knocks enemies back into the area of effect.

Recommended mods: Lorenzo’s Artifact, Sharpshooter’s Grip, Electric Signal Carrying Anetnnae

Unlike other Pistols on this list, Lorenzo’s Artifact Gun is quite unique as it deals radiation damage while also stunning enemies. However, unlike other radiation weapons that deal radiation poisoning, this gun deals pure radiation damage, which might not make it seem that effective when compared to other radiation guns. However, it does hold its own among Pistols.

Location: Head to Parsons State Insane Asylum as indicated on the map and start the side quest The Secret of Cabot House. You can then Kill Lorenzo to get the weapon off of him.

10. Hub’s Alien Blaster pistol

Damage: 50
Ammo: Alien blaster round/ Fusion cell (with mod)
Magazine size: 42
Fire rate: 100
Range: 149
Accuracy: 76

Bonus effect: Critical shots deal double damage and the critical meter fills 15% faster.

Recommended mods: Long Barrel, Sharpshooter’s Grip, Fusion Mag, Standard Sights

Hub’s Alien Pistol, included as part of the Nuka-World DLC is one of the strongest Pistols you can get in the game. It’s also much better compared to the base Alien Blaster which has no legendary effect. Acquiring it is also really fun as it involves doing a quest with one of the most satisfying endings in all of Fallout 4.

Location: Head to Hubologist’s Camp on the Nuka-World map and interact with Dara to start the quest Trip To The Stars. As you progress through the quest, Dara will reward you with the Alien Blaster Pistol.

11. Plasma Pistol

Plasma Pistol in Fallout 4

Damage: 24 (Attack) + 24 (Energy)
Ammo: Plasma cartridge
Magazine Size: 30
Fire rate: 33
Range: 119
Accuracy: 142
AP cost: 34

Bonus effect: None

Recommended mods: Overcharged Capacitor, Short Barrel, Comfort Grip, Reflex Sight

The Plasma Pistol is another cool-looking gun like the Alien Blaster that shoots superheated bolts of plasma. It’s quite easy to get as all you need to do is purchase it from a merchant. Since it’s an energy-based weapon, it deals ballistic and energy damage which packs quite a punch.

Location: This weapon can be purchased from a merchant (preferably Diamond City) once your character reaches level 16.

12. Acid Soaker

Damage: 10
Ammo: Acid concentrate
Magazine Size: 20
Fire rate: 66
Range: 35
Accuracy: 89
AP cost: 26

Bonus effect: Inflicts ongoing acid damage and temporarily reduces damage resistance.

Recommended mods: None

Another gun included in the Nuka-World DLC, the Acid Soaker inflicts acid damage which makes it quite unique compared to other guns on the list. The biggest drawback of the Pistol however, is its ammo which requires you to have a bunch of items to be able to craft a single ammunition.

Location: This weapon can be obtained from the Nuka-Cade Prize Terminal for 6250 tickets.

13. Salvaged Assaultron Head

Damage: 35
Ammo: Fusion cell
Magazine Size: Charged single shot
Fire rate: 11
Range: 93
Accuracy: 65

Bonus effect: Irradiates the shooter by 50 rads per weapon discharge.

Recommended mods: None

Salvaged Assaultron Head is part of the Automatron DLC and is similar to a laser weapon but in the form of a Pistol. While it looks really cool, it doesn’t fire the laser beam the way the Assaultron’s head does. You’ll also need to charge it after each shot making it quite problematic to use in combat.

Location: You can find this weapon south of the Tesla Rifle as indicated on the map, in a room with the 3 pillars, inside the Steamer Trunk.

14. Survivor’s Special

Damage: 31
Ammo: Fusion cell
Fire rate: 44
Range: 71
Accuracy: 42

Bonus effect: Does more damage the lower your health is.

Recommended mods: Photon Exciter, Automatic Barrel, Sharpshooter’s Grip, Reflex Sight, Beam Splitter

While the Survivor’s Special has a unique bonus effect, that’s all there is to it. While it might be really useful to use in tight situations when you’re about to die, when you are at full health using it against Behemoths or other powerrful enemies, it doesn’t really make that much of a difference.

Location: You can get this weapon by starting the The Lost Patrol quest or you can head to the same location and kill Paladin Brandis to loot the it from of him.

15. Zeta Gun

Damage: 10 (radiation)
Ammo: Gamma round
Magazine Size: 8
Fire rate: 66
Range: 119
Accuracy: 69

Bonus effect: Area of effect, stuns enemies on hit.

Recommended mods: Zeta Wave Barrel, Sharpshooter’s Grip, Electric Signal Carrying Anetnnae

The Zeta gun shoots Zeta rays which deal radiation damage to your target. You can also add the Electric Signal Carrier Antenna to add an extra 40 base damage. While many players despise this weapon, some even calling it one of the worst in the game, it’s pretty good to have early on as it deals a decent amount of damage.

Location: To get the Zeta Gun, head to the location on the map and start the side quest The Secret of Cabot House. You will then have to choose to free Lorenzo and kill Jack Cabot after which you can loot the gun from Jack’s body.

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