Firearms Expert Reacts To Fallout: New Vegas’ Guns

Firearms Expert Reacts To Fallout: New Vegas’ Guns

Jonathan Ferguson, a weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries, breaks down the weaponry of Fallout: New Vegas, including the franchise’s iconic Nuka Launcher, the cumbersome Minigun, and the Gauss Rifle.

In the latest video in the Firearm Expert Reacts series, Jonathan Ferguson–a weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries–breaks down the guns of Fallout: New Vegas and compares them to their real-life counterparts.

If you’re interested in seeing more of Jonathan’s work, you can check out more from the Royal Armouries right here. – https://www.youtube.com/user/RoyalArmouries

If you would like to support the Royal Armouries, you can make a charitable donation to the museum here. – https://royalarmouries.org/support-us/donations/

And if you would like to become a member of the Royal Armouries, you can get a membership here. – https://royalarmouries.org/support-us/membership/

You can purchase Jonathan’s book here – https://www.headstamppublishing.com/bullpup-rifle-book

50 Comments

  1. Nikita Belik on October 28, 2021 at 8:25 pm

    Looks like Fatman it is a hybrid of the Davy Crockett and PIAT grenade launcher



  2. Artie Thompson on October 28, 2021 at 8:27 pm

    Now how could you miss showing Euclid’s C-Finder. Let’s see Jonathan explain that one.



  3. Gary Higginson on October 28, 2021 at 8:28 pm

    Love to see him break down Death Stranding guns, but probably can’t break down the BT guns per se because they are not real guns, are "conventional weapons" but with blood rounds, could you really fire a blood-filled bullet and have it behave like a normal bullet? That game is weird. though will understand if you don’t want to. Just watching that game makes you feel uneasy.



  4. Grog Vaughan on October 28, 2021 at 8:28 pm

    @Jonathan Ferguson wouldn’t something closer to the Fat man launcher be the PIAT???



  5. starterpack295 on October 28, 2021 at 8:28 pm

    I think you could potentially get less wear for less damage for 2 reasons irl; 1 higher velocity means more damage, but that would also wear your barrel out (marginally) faster; 2 a higher powder charge could increase impact wear on the receiver, and internals by some amount depending on how much higher the charge is; the differences in wear are marginal, but not completely divorced from reality.



  6. Lopiklop on October 28, 2021 at 8:29 pm

    Could you imagine if there was absolutely no recoil on energy weapons? It would look just as if not worse.



  7. 2468wdwa1 on October 28, 2021 at 8:29 pm

    I didn’t hear it in the video, but the anti-materiel rifle is literally a PGM Hecate II, it says hecate II on the side 😛



  8. WhyamIhere on October 28, 2021 at 8:29 pm

    About the optical sights not surviving, I believe the explanation for that is the gun runners. They have prewar schematics and manufacture that stuff themselves



  9. Martin Method on October 28, 2021 at 8:30 pm

    The Royal Armories Museum just casually has the most desirable configuration of the Hècate II, the one with the propieatary scope mount and the wooden furniture? To be honest, I would be fine getting stuck with the Generation 2 tactical furniture if it meant having a Hècate II, but give me the choice between the Gen 2 Tactical Furniture and the Gen 1 Wooden Furniture, I’d take the one with wood every day of the week.



  10. Devorizon on October 28, 2021 at 8:31 pm

    This is Mr. New Vegas, and I feel something magic in the air tonight, and I’m not just talking about the gamma radiation."



  11. suddenwall on October 28, 2021 at 8:32 pm

    A laser gun could recoil if it were a chemical laser- where a very energetic caseless fuel cartridge is burned in a highly reflective chamber and the light is reflected and focused into a laser beam. The US military was planning to use such weapons in planes to shoot down ICBMs but the program was cancelled. I doubt the tech could scale down to the size of a regular gun but it would be a fun take on energy weapons. Gameplay-wise it would align with other weapons in terms of recoil, handling, the gun wearing out, and measurable individual cartridges



  12. Krzosu on October 28, 2021 at 8:35 pm

    Fatman is sorta mix between the Piat and Davy crocket 😀



  13. RedCell96 on October 28, 2021 at 8:43 pm

    It’s not the lasers that recoil, it’s the sudden discharge of heat that causes the atmosphere around the muzzle. The heat is so quickly intense that the pressures generated will cause the muzzle to move causing a "recoilc" like effect. Although it would still be less than an actual firearm. It’s also the reason you’d still be able to hear a laser-fired weapon.



  14. Jano on October 28, 2021 at 8:44 pm

    That Hooligan is not actually reviewing the guns. Say how much damage can do. Calibre, Maneuvering, etc.



  15. Oliver Hellwig on October 28, 2021 at 8:45 pm

    3:20 "As befits a desert western type setting albeit in a parallel desolate future the single action army cult is still going strong." – my compliments 🙂



  16. okienative on October 28, 2021 at 8:45 pm

    My man keeps a mini gun in the office. Legend status



  17. Bradley Koperski on October 28, 2021 at 8:46 pm

    I believe "That Gun" has some sort of electric automated cylinder open and close, and the light indicates the cylinder opening with a red light and the cylinder closed, full, and ready to shoot with a green light.



  18. Sal Garces on October 28, 2021 at 8:47 pm

    "Patrolling the Mojave makes you wish for a nuclear winter"



  19. Vadim Blyat on October 28, 2021 at 8:47 pm

    ¨light doesnt recoil¨ Austin would like to know your location



  20. marcuskiller02 on October 28, 2021 at 8:48 pm

    With all the superb new gun animations hitman47101 is pumping out, Jonathan is soon going to need to redo this one



  21. TexasPistolMassacre on October 28, 2021 at 8:50 pm

    I always thought NV’s Anti-Materiel Rifle was a PGM Hecate II?



  22. Kyle Abrams on October 28, 2021 at 8:51 pm

    But 5.56 is a higher pressure round. If it wasn’t it wouldn’t be a problem shooting it from a .223 barrel barrel besides wylde. Unless I misunderstood something



  23. Long Peter on October 28, 2021 at 8:51 pm

    Physicists: does light have recoil though?



  24. Vemund Dyrkolbotn on October 28, 2021 at 8:53 pm

    Photons haven’t mass, but they do have momentum, so lasers do have recoil. That handled laser wouldn’t have any felt recoil though. (1:45)



  25. Aaron Lucas on October 28, 2021 at 8:55 pm

    Not sure if you’re aware, but with DLC, other "real world" guns in the game now include the BAR, M1 Garand/Carbine, and 1911 in both 9mm and .45 ACP.



  26. sosij role on October 28, 2021 at 8:55 pm

    i must say, this is very random, but please do the guns of a game called phantom forces in roblox



  27. BornYeti on October 28, 2021 at 8:58 pm

    AAAAAAAND now I want to play New Vegas again 😀



  28. laernulieNlaernulieNlaernulieN on October 28, 2021 at 8:58 pm

    I thought 5.56mm produces a high pressure than .223 so therefore it would be more powerful? I really don’t understand how ammo works.



  29. Handsome Jack on October 28, 2021 at 9:00 pm

    They asked me if i had a gun
    I pointed my finger at them and said "theoreticly i do"



  30. Laz theman on October 28, 2021 at 9:03 pm

    Just an idea about why the drum magazine is still being used but not removed and the cell is inserted at the front. Maybe to convert it to a laser variant ‘in the wasteland’ the space inside the drum was needed to contain extra circuitry to enable the weapon to be a laser?



  31. Dontiva on October 28, 2021 at 9:03 pm

    How the hell did you start the game with a brownin high powered? Cause I always got the 9mm or the 10mm. What did I do wrong?



  32. John P on October 28, 2021 at 9:05 pm

    Would like him to do meatal gear please mostly meatal gear 3 its my fav



  33. Spookmeyer on October 28, 2021 at 9:05 pm

    the wonkieness of the reload animations in places (in particular the Hi Power’s reload), are engine limitations. Bethesda’s creation engine (at least the version used in FNV) has incredibly limited ability for different animations, and can only have a single reload animation per weapon, which is a shame, as they had intended to have different animations for guns depending on it’s actual workings or if there is still a round chambered or not.

    The 5.56 pistol has been in Fallout since the first one, and the 2019 Detective’s Special is always sort of a wonky beast. It was a revolver with parts from a mannlicher .22 bolt action rifel strapped to it, if I remember correctly, and the best guess is that it relates to how in the novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (which the film was based on), Deckard carries both a handgun, and a ‘laser tube’. Common theory is that the armorer had read this, and put the extra barrel and trigger on it.

    And the Gauss rifle does have a very large coil on it. Personally, my skullgun on the subject has been that it fires the battery as a projectile, and that tingly blue glow is the remainder of the charge being released. I also assumed the drum on the laser RCW was something required for distributing power form the battery, even if it really is just a thompson that shoots lasers.

    Oh, and 5mm has always been a weird caliber in Fallout. Like how 10mm became the ‘standard’ pistol cartridge instead of 9mm, a 5mm cartridge became the standard over 5.56. One of Fallout’s weird, wonky timeline quackeries. Which has only been furthered quackered by bethesda not understanding firearms and Obsidian understanding them too well.



  34. Narnian Warrior on October 28, 2021 at 9:05 pm

    They also have an M1 Garand called the "battle rifle"



  35. Jacob Waldman-Khaira on October 28, 2021 at 9:07 pm

    Please can you do a review on the fire arms off “ Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days” it was a great game set in Hong Kong and had some nice rifles and old school Hong Kong police service small arms



  36. terell case on October 28, 2021 at 9:10 pm

    In some ways on the AR platform using "higher damage ammo" will wear it our more quickly. For instance using armor piercing rounds can wear out the feed slide that guides the bullet into the barrel. As well as using steel cased ammo wears your gun quicker due to the larger amount of gas blowback in the system since the cartridges don’t expand nearly as well as brass



  37. Brandon Van Landuyt on October 28, 2021 at 9:11 pm

    Red Orchestra 2



  38. Valerie on October 28, 2021 at 9:12 pm

    God all the girl characters. Forgot they all looked like they had mustaches. Thank god for mods. Lol



  39. Arvid Rydahl on October 28, 2021 at 9:15 pm

    For the .357 revolver I’m pretty sure the player character is actually manipulating the ejector rod with their index finger. Yes, it’s adroit to the point of super human, but probably mechanically possible to do it that quickly.



  40. HiveofVillainy on October 28, 2021 at 9:15 pm

    No, please. Spend all your time talking about how awesome New Vegas is…we’d all watch that.



  41. Master Zoentrobe's Gaming Clips on October 28, 2021 at 9:16 pm

    "So, yes, ludicrous, massively powerful, impractical revolvers do get made."
    The Taurus Raging Bull chambered in .454 Casull comes to mind.



  42. Angry_Bushi on October 28, 2021 at 9:17 pm

    Anyone notice the weird breathing during the ap rifle section??



  43. Cuflock on October 28, 2021 at 9:18 pm

    Well, thanks. Reminded me to replay New Vegas again.



  44. Joe Holtz on October 28, 2021 at 9:18 pm

    How can you live in a country where no one is free to own any of those guns??? I couldn’t do it. I’d be replacing the government immediately lol.



  45. joshua tucker on October 28, 2021 at 9:18 pm

    How does one become a firearms expert in England.. what a conundrum! It’s like an oxymoron isn’t it?



  46. Jonathan Ferguson on October 28, 2021 at 9:18 pm

    Sorry guys, I done goofed on the BFR. It is of course available in. 45-70, which was why I picked that brass beast in the first place. At some point my brain decided to let me down 🙂



  47. CAZtheArcher Z on October 28, 2021 at 9:19 pm

    Theory on fallout lazer weapon recoil: it doesn’t exist, it’s just fake recoil that the player does, like exaggerated nerf recoil kids do.



  48. Agirmetal on October 28, 2021 at 9:20 pm

    Where is the freaking cowboy repeater



  49. Phillip Klinger on October 28, 2021 at 9:22 pm

    Could you do an episode on movies? Would love to see the guns from John wick or James Bond or other iconic gun movies.



  50. David Szaks on October 28, 2021 at 9:23 pm

    Light does recoil…. you just probably wouldn’t notice it. Unless it was A LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT of light.