TheHunter: Call of the Wild - Smoking Barrels Weapon Pack Review (vassilevb)
"His name was Jeremiah Johnson, and they say he wanted to be a mountain man. The story goes that he was a man of proper wit and adventurous spirit, suited to the mountains. Nobody knows where abouts he come from and don't seem to matter much. He was a young man and ghosty stories about the tall hills didn't scare him none. He was looking for a Hawken gun, .50 caliber or better. He settled for a .30, but damn, it was a genuine Hawken, and you couldn't go no better. Bought him a good horse, and traps, and other truck that went with being a mountain man, and said good-bye to whatever life was down there below." / 1o
Thanks for the Hawken rifle, I guess. Being able to one-shot at least something (other than a rabbit) in this game without having to "follow blood trails" makes it somewhat enjoyable. And don't get me started on the "but it's meant to be realistic this way" folly, because it's not. I know skulls are hard objects difficult to penetrate, but the immediate consequences of ~117 Joules (.22LR with 2.6 grams of mass and a velocity of 300 m/s, which is purposefully a great underestimation of the typical performance of .22LR*) transferred to your (or a deer's) head should be considered and modeled adequately. A shot in the head is indeed survivable, yeah, but, you are (or a deer is) likely lying/twitching helpless right there on the spot.
* But let's also say that it would probably be a ~117 Joules** when the projectile reaches your head, because the muzzle energy will typically be much higher. Muzzle energy calculation = 1/2 * mass * (velocity squared).
** Let me also give you a perspective = an airsoft handgun with ~1 Joule can give you a small non-lethal internal haemorrhage (reddish/blueish blemishes on your skin). Yes, although non-lethal for non-haemophiliacs, it is still a bodily damage.
Also, people from the US/GB, please, forgive me, but I feel violated when I use Imperial units.
EDIT: This rifle is useless if you want to make "ethical" hunting of medium game, because of its caliber. This information is not revealed to you, until you see yourself systematically failing the harvest check. The animal's class is within the rifle's capabilities? Doesn't matter, you won't pass the harvest check. Make sure you're familiar with the charts (section "Rifle integrity") in this guide, if you want to mark some progress with the quests:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1087477994