Bolt-action rifle

The bolt-action rifle is a moderately heavy, single-shot firearm in RimWorld which deals a slightly higher amount of damage per shot; slightly longer time between shots; long range and high accuracy.

Overview

The bolt-action rifle has the highest overall accuracy within range out of all non-explosive ranged weapons in the game, virtually tied with the charge lance (though this is marginally more accurate). On top of that, this weapon has a very good maximum range as well as a decent per-shot damage amount and armor penetration. Stopping power is also high enough to stagger not only humans, but also slightly larger targets such as cougars and all insectoids.

However, the bolt-action rifle's damage output at shorter distances leaves a fair bit to be desired due to its weaker close-up accuracy, easily being outclassed at those distances by weapons such as the revolver - larger burst-fire weapons will also generally outclass the bolt-action rifle in this aspect. The aforementioned poor close-up accuracy also means that the bolt-action rifle needs a competent shooter in order to be used effectively.

All things considered, the bolt-action rifle's most suited for field engagements (e.g. attacking siege camps) or as a general support weapon, both use cases due to its stopping power being able to slow down incoming melee or shorter-ranged ranged units combined with its range. As its description states, the bolt-action rifle is an excellent hunting weapon due to its respectable per-shot damage and long range, only being outdone by the sniper rifle and charge lance in this regard.

Against an unarmored human, a bolt-action rifle can kill with 3 hits to the torso, 2 hits to the head or neck, or 1 hit to the brain; cripple or destroy limbs in 2 hits; and destroy eyes and digits with a single hit. It'll generally take around 4 hits (~15.9 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock.

Overall, the bolt-action rifle is best paired with a careful shooter up to level 13, then with a trigger-happy shooter beyond that point.

Melee Combat

Tool	Attack	Damage Type	Power	Cooldown	Likelihood	Base DPS
Overall	-	-	9	2.00s	-	4.50
Stock	Blunt	Blunt	9	2.00s	50.00%	4.50
Barrel	Blunt	Blunt	9	2.00s	25.00%	4.50
Barrel	Poke	Blunt	9	2.00s	25.00%	4.50

Obtaining

Bolt-action rifles can be purchased from outlander and orbital combat suppliers, or obtained from the following raider kinds:

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Scavenger Gunner	11.67%	Normal	40-110%
Pirate Gunner	22.61%	Normal	70-230%
Town Guard	18.63%	Normal	60-200%
Mercenary Gunner	12.17%	Normal	70-320%
Ancient Soldier	10.28%	Normal	100%

Bolt-action rifles can also be crafted at a machining table once the gunsmithing research has been completed; from 60 steel, 3 components and 12,000 ticks (3.33 mins) of work. A crafting skill of at least 5 is required.

A bolt-action rifle is also one of the three starting weapons in the standard crashlanded scenario, along with a plasteel knife and a revolver.

Conclusion and Comparison

Compared to the sniper rifle, the bolt-action rifle has roughly half the time between shots but also slightly less than 75% damage as well as an 18% deficit in range - both weapons are heavily weighted on the warmup though, meaning that their damage output sees a significant increase when paired with a trigger-happy shooter. The bolt-action rifle also has a longer time between shots than the greatbow, meaning that the latter has a higher damage output potential (realized at higher quality levels) while also being significantly cheaper and only seeing a 14% range deficit - though the bolt-action rifle has superior accuracy at longer distances.

In head-on 1 vs. 1 fights between healthy level 8 shooters using granite chunks as cover from 35 cells away, the bolt-action rifle is 59% better than the sniper rifle, extending to a straight doubling of effectiveness once normal armor vests and simple helmets are factored in. Against the greatbow at 27 cells, the bolt-action rifle performs 43.9% better, extending to 97% with armor - the shorter the distance, the closer the gap with things eventually going in the greatbow's favor. Against the assault rifle at the same distance, the bolt-action rifle performs 14.8% worse, with armor only making things worse for the bolt-action rifle as it performs 53.7% worse; the assault rifle performs more than twice as good here.

When tested in a small hilled temperate forest in the hands of six lightly-armored baseline level 8 shooters against nine decently-equipped and equally skilled pirate raiders, the bolt-action rifle puts up a decent performance, despite being substantially bottlenecked by the shooters for the majority of the time. Naturally the bolt-action rifle is best used as a support weapon due to its lack of burst fire, so the test conditions here could be considered a worse case scenario for the weapon since it's pushed completely to the forefront.

In conclusion, the bolt-action rifle is essentially as good as your best available shooters are when at normal quality; it's almost 100% accurate and will therefore impose very minimal hindrance for even really skilled shooters. If you're looking for something that has a decent range and can throw some punches, the bolt-action rifle serves that purpose quite well in the early game, although the assault rifle becomes a much more effective fulfillment of that role once you start encountering mercenary raiders and research precision rifling. Unless extra range really matters for your playstyle, the bolt-action rifle is usually going to be a more reliable weapon than the sniper rifle, but the same can also be said for the assault rifle to the bolt-action rifle.

Graphs

The graphs assume a normal quality bolt-action rifle against an adult human that's out in the open in clear weather. For DPS, projectile speed has also been factored into the equation, with the weighting based on the base amount of attacks that it'll take to put the aforementioned target into pain shock.

Version history

The first texture of the bolt-action/survival rifle.

Before A16 it used to be called the Survival rifle.

Its accuracy was nerfed in 1.0. Prior to that, it was the most accurate weapon in-game, capable of reaching 100% accuracy at all ranges above Masterwork quality.

Weapons