Laser musket The laser musket is a weapon in " Fallout 4 " . Characteristics . The laser musket is a homemade , nonstandard version of a laser rifle . It is the signature weapon of the Minutemen faction and several can be obtained from them . It appears to be meshed together from various mechanical and electronic parts strapped to a wooden rifle stock . The " barrel " consists of a standard laser rifle housing with two metal - ringed lenses atop a metal rod extending from the stock , through which the laser beam is presumably focused ( although it can be fitted with a focusing array that looks the same as either the laser pistol or laser rifle ) . The beam itself is created inside a makeshift capacitor , which the player character charges via a hand - crank on the back . Every odd crank ( one , three and five ) causes the beam to visibly intensify , with the final charge creating a decent sized red luminescence . Like most laser weapons , it uses fusion cell s as ammunition . However , its beam is very similar to that of the Gauss rifle , albeit red in color . Also like the Gauss rifle , it sounds like thunder when fired , with intensity that is amplified with every charge level . The effect of three or more cranks results in reducing the victim to ashes with red smoke . What makes the laser musket unique from other laser weapons in the game is that even with ammo in the player character ' s inventory , it starts off " unloaded , " and does not automatically reload after firing . The player character must manually load up each shot by pressing the " reload " key , causing the Sole Survivor to turn the hand - crank and charge the capacitor with one fusion cell . Each subsequent crank charges the capacitor even further with another fusion cell ; in an unmodded state to a maximum of two , but mods can expand capacity up to six cranks of charge . Once loaded , the laser musket can be fired , consuming all the cells stored in one powerful shot . This ability to manually " charge up " each shot makes the laser musket a powerful first - tier weapon and especially versatile when taking on enemies of varying levels , using weaker shots on weaker targets and more powerful shots on more powerful targets . Once fully upgraded , the laser musket becomes one of the best sniping weapons in the game , capable of taking out Legendary foes with one shot to the head when coupled with the sneak attack bonus . The musket ' s major drawback is its potentially high ammo consumption and slow reload speed , given that the player character has to manually reload each and every shot ( although the Sole Survivor does reload between shots in V . A . T . S . , albeit with only one - crank shots regardless of how powerful the first initial shot was ) . On top of which , the weapon is not automatically loaded when using the quick select menu . While it " can " be modified with a splitter to play a " shotgun " role as a type of laser - blunderbuss to use in close quarters , it is highly impractical to use in this way due to the characteristics described above . For close combat needs , a laser rifle , Institute laser or a plasma rifle with an automatic barrel or splitter muzzle is far more practical due to their bigger clips and higher fire rates . On top of which , at over 15 pounds the laser musket is heavy for a laser weapon of its size ( almost triple that of a standard laser rifle ) and when fully modified it rivals an unmodified Gatling laser in terms of weight . Variants . When firing the automatic laser musket , the user will take a moment to spool the weapon first while pointing upwards , like the minigun and Gatling laser needs a moment to spin up before firing . Switching to V . A . T . S . while already shooting or winding will reset the winding animation and thereby suffer the wind - up time to shoot . It is not as effective as most other automatic weapons as it ' s not readily available to shoot with the wind - up time and the low rate of fire with singular projectile makes it hard to hit targets . While it ' s mitigated by V . A . T . S . or sustained shooting , the beam splitter mod makes it easier to hit targets at a close range should one be fortunate enough to find one , as its multiple - projectiles compensates for the rate of fire by saturating an area at the cost of weaker individual projectiles . It is not eligible for modding ( except by an exploit while having another laser musket in the inventory , where the Sole Survivor enters a weapons bench after dropping the automatic variant on the ground , exits the weapons bench , picks up the automatic off the ground , and then enters the weapons bench again ) and will only be able to have attachments via randomization as it is spawned . It is rarely dropped , but is always awarded by Sturges after finishing the Nuclear Option quest for the Minutemen faction . It can also not be used by anyone other than the player character . Behind the scenes . The laser musket is a crank - powered energy weapon ; the 2002 Walt Disney film ' Treasure Planet ' featured a weapon of the same name which used a similar system of powering the musket . However , in the film turning the crank constantly ensures a continuous beam with decreased potency .