“ | An old .303 calibre bolt-action hunting rifle. Will bring a deer down. Maybe a wolf. In-game description
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The Hunting rifle is a ranged weapon in The Long Dark.
It, the distress pistol, the survival bow and stones are currently the only four equippable weapons.
Loading
When found, the rifle is always empty and so it will need to be loaded with rifle ammunition to be useful. The rifle holds a maximum of 10 rounds at a time, and can be loaded with 5 round stripper clips; rounds will be loaded individually if there are 6 or more rounds in the magazine. Loading will continue until interrupted by clicking or cancelling, or the magazine is fully loaded. Default controls are "R" key on keyboard or "X" button on gamepad.
Controls
(Xbox) When the player has rifle ammunition in their inventory, pressing X will load the rifle. Once the rifle is loaded with at least one round, the player can press the left trigger (LT) to aim, and the right trigger (RT) to shoot.
(PC) Press "2" on the keyboard to equip the rifle when it is in the inventory, and its condition is greater than 0%. When the player has rifle ammunition in their inventory and the magazine is not full, pressing "R" (Default) will load the rifle. Once the rifle is loaded with at least one round, the player can click the right mouse button (RMB) to aim, and the left mouse button (LMB) to shoot. To unload the rifle, select it in the inventory and the option 'unload' will show.
Use
See: Hunting
Jamming
Rifle jams were introduced with the 0.298 update. Low condition weapons have a chance to improperly load the next cartridge. Attempting to fire will give the warning "Rifle jammed. Reload to clear." To fix, the bolt must be cycled again manually by pressing the reload button/key. Doing so will eject the unspent cartridge onto the ground near the player, from where it can be picked up and used again. Unloading and reloading the rifle will also clear the jam, but without dropping any ammo.
- Keeping the weapon properly conditioned with a rifle cleaning kit lessens the chance of jamming.
- Loading only one round into the rifle at a time eliminates the possibility of jamming.
- Remember to look for and retrieve the unspent ammunition that falls to the ground.
Spawn points
As with other items, the hunting rifle will randomly spawn in different locations on different play-throughs. However, each major map is guaranteed to have at least one rifle spawn in it.
Some observed spawn points include:
Mystery Lake
- Carter Hydro Dam: Underneath a staircase.
- Carter Hydro Dam: Under the Train Bridge outside, next to a burned out campfire, sat against the wall.
- Lake Trail: Next to a corpse, behind Camp Office.
- Trapper's Homestead: On a gun rack mounted on the wall above the safe.
- Lone Lake Cabin: Outside, behind the cabin, beside a corpse.
- Derailment: In the train-car sat against the wall.
- Forestry Lookout: In gun rack.
- Prepper cache: Only the hunting supplies one.
- Max's Last Stand next to a corpse.
Coastal Highway
- Under bridge leading to the The Ravine, next to corpse.
- Inside the ice-fishing hut between Jackrabbit Island and Misanthrope's Homestead, propped against a wall.
- In back seat of a car.
- Jackrabbit Island: Inside house, beside wardrobe in bedroom.
- Misanthrope's Homestead: Eastern tip of island, beside corpse.
- Misanthrope's Homestead, in the corner of the bedroom beside the wardrobe
- Abandoned Lookout: in gun rack.
Pleasant Valley
- Signal Hill: Radio Control Tower building, propped against the wall in the corner near the entrance, on the bed or in corner of radio room.
- Pleasant Valley Farmstead: Inside home, underneath the Master Bedroom's Bed or propped against the wall in the study.
- Pleasant Valley Farmstead: Inside the ruined building on the trail towards the back-left (south-west) of farmstead sat next to a corpse.
- Misty Falls Picnic Area: Near the corpse.
- Prepper cache: Only the one that contains hunting gear.
- Three Strikes Homestead.
Desolation Point
- Broken Bridge: Inside cave, at the high lookout point. (guaranteed)
- Hibernia Processing: Either in elevated hideout reached through pipe under rowboat or behind some crates that must be destroyed first or under bunkbeds. (guaranteed)
- Stone Church: Propped against wall.
Timberwolf Mountain
- Next to a corpse.
- Inside a cargo container mostly containing ammunition.
Notes
- The rifle can't be used with a sprained wrist.
- Bullets are more likely to cause a critical wound, reducing bleed-out time.
- Shooting a deer or wolf in their critical zones at close range has a high chance to kill the animal instantly.
- Bullets cause less bleeding than an arrow, creating additional bleed-out time.
- Firing the rifle indoors will cause temporary deafness.
Trivia
- The rifle appears to be heavily based on Lee-Enfield battle rifle, which was the British main battle rifle until the 1960's.
- The hunting rifle has a full wooden furniture, a feature common in World War Two and earlier combat rifles, but most hunting rifles have a lot less wood. The full stock makes the rifle very heavy, which consumes a significant portion of the player's limited carrying capacity.
- Many Canadians purchased military surplus .303 rifles and use them for hunting, so while the .303 may seem odd to the USA audience, it is a very fitting choice for the Canadian setting. (Of course most Canadians reworked the stock to be less wood and lighter overall, apparently the owner of this rifle never did).
- In real life, a .303 hunting rifle should kill a deer or wolf in a single shot to the vital areas (lungs, heart, liver) although the animal may not drop dead instantly. Different weight bullets for different game animals (150 grain for deer, 180 for moose, 215 for bear) assuming you are finding ammo intended for hunting deer & elk, taking 3-4 shots to kill a grizzly seems fine.
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