Heavy Rifles in No More Room in Hell 2: Every Heavy Rifle, Its Ammo and the Skills That Buff Them
Quick answer: “Heavy Rifles” is an official weapon class in No More Room in Hell 2. The 0.9 Revelation patch notes group three guns under it — the Hunter 85 (bolt action, .308), the M14 Battle Rifle (semi-auto, .308) and the Rochester 1873 (lever action, .357 Magnum). The class matters because three skills — Steel Chamber, Penetrating Shot and Eagle Eye — only buff heavy rifles, not the “Rifles” class (M7A1, MC-15, Gruber 922 and Gruber Ranch). All heavy rifles kill normal zombies with one headshot, and the two .308 guns carry the game’s top penetration value of 3.
Which weapons are heavy rifles?
The developers’ own grouping comes from the 0.9 firearm-rework notes, which list balance changes under class headings: Handguns, Heavy Rifles, Rifles, Shotguns and Submachine Gun.
| Heavy rifle | Action | Calibre | Magazine (wiki) | Body dmg · Penetration (0.9) | Suppressor / optics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter 85 | Bolt action | .308 Win | 6 | 35 · 3 | Suppressor; no optic listed |
| M14 Battle Rifle | Semi-auto | .308 Win | 20+1 | 35 · 3 | Suppressor + holographic sight |
| Rochester 1873 | Lever action | .357 Magnum | 5 | 20 · not changed at 0.9 | Suppressor + rifle optics |
One caveat on the Rochester. The patch notes file it under Heavy Rifles, but when players discuss which guns the heavy-rifle skills apply to, the lists that circulate name only the Hunter 85 and the M14 (the skill text itself just says “heavy rifles”). We have not been able to verify in-game whether Steel Chamber boosts the Rochester, so if you are building around .357, test it before committing skill picks.
For comparison, the Rifles class is the M7A1 (6.8x51mm), MC-15 (5.56), Gruber 922 and Gruber Ranch (.22 LR) — the class the Steady Shot recoil skill names instead. Full stats for everything are on the weapons list.
Heavy rifle ammo
Ammo is calibre-specific, so a heavy rifle is only as good as the boxes you find for it:
| Calibre | Feeds | Loadout ammo box (community wiki) |
|---|---|---|
| .308 Win | Hunter 85, M14 Battle Rifle | 10 rounds · Account Level 43 · 3,000 Credits |
| .357 Magnum | Rochester 1873, Model 13 revolver | 10 rounds · Account Level 18 · 3,000 Credits |
The Rochester’s hidden advantage is that its ammo pool is shared with the default Model 13 revolver every Responder starts with, so .357 is usually the easiest heavy-rifle calibre to keep fed early. .308 is heavier and rarer — the 0.9 notes deliberately made big calibres weigh more and “difficult to hoard”.
Skills that only affect heavy rifles
From the community wiki’s skill tables (account-level unlocks are for the Expert rank):
| Skill | Base effect | Expert effect | Expert unlock |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steel Chamber | Heavy rifles deal increased damage | ”Vastly more” damage | Account Level 44 |
| Penetrating Shot | Heavy rifles penetrate more targets | Penetrate “many more” targets | Account Level 60 |
| Eagle Eye | Damage falloff on heavy rifles is reduced | Greatly reduced | Account Level 28 |
Stacked, these are the reason a .308 rifle can clear a corridor: penetration 3 already passes through helmets, Penetrating Shot adds targets per bullet, and Eagle Eye restores some of the range the 0.9 rework took away (maximum range on both .308 guns dropped from 150 m to 100 m). Skill rankings and pick order are on the skills tier list; the ready-made marksman loadout is in best builds.
How to get a heavy rifle
- Loot. Heavy rifles are field finds from POI weapon caches and stash rooms. 1.0 shifted Tier 3 weapon spawns toward later stages of maps and made stash-room loot scale with how many Responders reach each POI, so the odds improve as a run goes on. Since 1.0, a looted gun may also come with some ammo already loaded.
- Loadout. The default starting kit is the Model 13 revolver plus a Mallet — no rifle. Players report the Hunter 85 as a loadout purchase in 1.0 (price unconfirmed on our side); the .308 ammo box is a separate loadout item at Account Level 43. Note the launch-week post said some of the highest-power items were intentionally removed from loadouts, so the M14 and M7A1 may be loot-only — check your menu.
Which heavy rifle should you carry?
- M14 Battle Rifle if you find one: same damage and penetration as the Hunter 85 with a 20+1 magazine and semi-auto fire. It is the class’s best gun and a fixture of post-1.0 S-tier lists.
- Hunter 85 as the bridge: identical one-shot headshots and penetration, quieter with a suppressor, but bolt action and a six-round magazine. Full breakdown on the Hunter 85 page.
- Rochester 1873 when .357 is what you keep finding: lower body damage (20 after 0.9), but it takes rifle optics, shares the revolver’s ammo, and the 1.0.4 hotfix tightened its spread.
Whatever you pick, remember the class-wide rule from the 0.9 rework: body damage was cut to 35 on the .308 guns so that heavy rifles reward headshots, and every unsuppressed shot is a dinner bell for Runners (see the zombies guide).
Sources: official 0.9 Revelation, 1.0 Armageddon and 1.0.4.0 patch notes; community NMRiH2 wiki (Weapons, Skills, Equipment, Loadouts); r/nmrih discussion of heavy-rifle skill coverage.