Buffalo Rifle

The  is a weapon featured in Red Dead Redemption.

The holds only one bullet, but it's the most powerful rifle in the game. Shooting all animals and NPC's in the head is a one shot kill. It does not kill the legendary animals with a shot to the head (especially the bear), but it will kill a boar. Shooting small game with the rifle, such as Skunks and Rabbits and any type of bird, (except vultures) will destroy the animal, but only if within a "20 foot" radius, rendering them to be unskinnable.

Singleplayer

 * It can be purchased from any Gunsmith after surpassing Master Hunter Rank 5 (reaching Rank 6).

Multiplayer

 * Buffalo Rifle is unlocked upon reaching Rank 50.
 * Killing a level 50 player with this weapon equipped will cause them to drop it.

Tips and Tricks
Be careful when using the Buffalo Rifle in Level 2 Dead-Eye Targeting mode as it is a one-shot rifle and painting the target in any location will cause Marston to fire it off right away. Even being the most powerful rifle, if the shot is not placed in the center mass, or the head, the target can survive. Especially if the target is a Grizzly Bear.

With the legendary animals, it may take two shots to the head instead of the one for everything else.

A useful trick is to repeatedly go in and out of Dead-Eye while firing the Buffalo Rifle, as this increases the rate of fire because of Dead-Eye's effect of refilling the ammo in the player's clip.

Trivia

 * The 1874 Sharps Long Range Rifle is the weapon of choice for Quigley in the film Quigley Down Under(1990).


 * A glitch exists for the in singleplayer on the PS3 version of the game; if Marston has the bandolier equipped and has more than 120 rifle rounds, shooting it will bring it down to 99 rounds. This glitch has not been observed on the Xbox 360 version of the game.


 * The name of this weapon refers to its rifle cartridge (Sharps .50-90) which was used to hunt buffalo to near extinction due to its large size and exceptional accuracy.


 * Buffalo hunter, Billy Dixon, shot and presumably killed a Comanche warrior at a range of 1,538 yards with a .50-90 Sharps rifle during the Second Battle of Adobe Walls.
 * Though challenging, it is possible to get the Buffalo rifle soon after unlocking the Master Hunter Challenges. Doing so will make the game much easier, since you have a accurate, high powered, long range rifle near the start.
 * In the film Lonesome Dove, Jake Spoon uses a Buffalo Rifle to accidentally kill the mayor and dentist of Ft. Smith Arkansas.

Achievements
The can be used to unlock the following achievements.