Sawed-Off Shotgun (Fallout)/Fallout3

Information
The sawed-off shotgun is a double-barrel shotgun that has had its stock and part of its barrels sawed off, granting it increased mobility in return for drastically reduced range. It has two triggers, one for each barrel. The sawed-off shotgun appears to have been fitted with a pistol grip, in favor of the shortened stock-grip assembly. Rust is visible on the metallic parts of the shotgun, and a makeshift strap made out of thin sheet metal keeps the barrels and forearm together. It is a one-handed weapon and reaps the benefits of the Gunslinger perk.

This weapon has one of the largest spread of all weapons in Fallout 3, second only to the experimental MIRV. In order to get high damage, one essentially has to treat the gun like a melee weapon and fire it at point blank range so that the whole shot impacts the target.

A fully-repaired sawed-off shotgun can fire 167 shots, or 84 reloads, before breaking.

Mel wields a sawed-off shotgun in a random encounter in which he attempts to mug the Lone Wanderer, but the gun is not loaded. This is an homage to Mel Gibson, the actor who played Mad Max. In Mad Max 2, Max threatened the Gyro Captain using an unloaded sawed-off shotgun. The firing sound effects for the sawed-off shotgun and various other guns in Fallout 3 were created by recording the collision of pieces of scrap metal, resulting in a "ka-choolt" sound effect.

The Kneecapper
The Kneecapper deals much more damage and is significantly more accurate than the regular sawed-off. It is not as accurate as the combat shotgun, but deals more damage per shot, though it must be reloaded six times as often because it only holds 2 shells. The Kneecapper deals damage through raw power alone, since it does not deal any critical hit damage.

The Kneecapper can fire a total of about 111 shots, the equivalent of 56 reloads, from full condition before breaking. This is 56 fewer shots than the common sawed off shotgun.

It is possible to obtain two Kneecappers. The first by pickpocketing it from Ronald Laren while he is in Girdershade. The second by collecting another from his corpse if he is sent to the Nuka-Cola plant using dialogue from the Black Widow perk. If Ronald learns of Sierra's death, he will refer to the Kneecapper by name as he attacks the Lone Wanderer.

The Kneecapper takes its name from the act of "kneecapping" someone, which is shooting them in the kneecaps to cripple their legs.