This mod adds a standalone version of the Hunting Rifle with mesh and texture edits. I loved the concept of the Hunting Rifle when I first began Fallout. There's something romantic about a lone survivalist taking on a hostile wasteland with a trusty bolt action rifle. However, when I first saw the Hunting Rifle, I was... underwhelmed. I know that the weapon is meant to look worn and rough around the edges but it could at least look like it wouldn't explode if you tried to fire it. The butt plate is falling off, the barrel is exceedingly rusted and pitted, and its held together with tape and wire. This mod recreates the Hunting Rifle with, what I believe to be, a good balance between a functional firearm and a rough looking wasteland weapon. 

The tape and wire has been removed, the butt plate properly attached, the buckhorn style sights replaced with a ghost ring style system, the texture been changed to have less pitting on the barrel and with less cracks in the stock while still looking rough cut, the pistol grip has been shortened, and the cheek rest has been removed to mirror other modern bolt action rifles. The gun features slightly higher damage than the vanilla version to reflect the better performance of a maintained firearm. I have also (mostly) fixed the sighting node problem as best as I could; it is mostly on the front sight now. It can be modified with a Hunting Rifle Scope, Sniper Rifle Suppressor (with custom sounds), and Sniper Rifle Carbon fiber parts (which add a desert camo synthetic body). You can find it at the Sniper's Nest resting beside the mesh netting stand near the edge of the cliff. I have thought of doing this same thing for the Caravan Shotgun so let me know if anyone would like to see that. 

Update: There is now a replacer .esp as an optional file.