Frag mine ( Fallout 3 ) The frag mine is a placed weapon in " Fallout 3 " . Characteristics . The frag mine looks like a tan shaped disk with a black gear and red button on top . The tan paint is most likely used to camouflage the mine out in the desert covered Capital Wasteland . The frag mine will begin beeping when a target comes within a short distance to it until it is disarmed or it detonates . The time until detonation depends on the Explosives skill of the person setting it off . Frag mines can be disarmed with an Explosives skill of 1 , meaning anyone , regardless of their statistics , will be capable of doing so . If the Lone Wanderer has the Light Step perk , the mine will not be triggered at all . To use a frag mine , it must first be equipped like any other weapon . Firing with it arms and drops the mine a short distance ahead of the miner . The mine will be triggered when any non - follower non - player character comes within a certain distance . Neither the miner nor their companions will trigger it . To collect a hostile land mine , or one of one ' s own , they have to approach it then " activate " it to disarm it . Once disarmed , it can then be collected . In the case of hostile mines , the mine ' s proximity fuse will trigger as a target approaches , and the Explosives skill will determine the length of the fuse . A low Explosives skill will make this difficult . There appears to be a quirk in the programming so that the mine will detonate based on how close the target is to its center regardless of the Z axis ( i . e . up and down ) while the distance they have to be to interact with it does take the Z axis into account . This means that going downhill or down a set of stairs the landmine will often explode before being able to go close enough and disarm it . The best bet is to crouch and , if possible , approach from the downhill side so as to end up closer to the mine ' s level on the Z axis . Aiming at the mine , gliding towards it and activating it as quickly as can be done . By walking instead of running also decreases likelihood to overshoot the mine and fail in disarming it . Like a frag grenade , frag mines have a relatively small blast radius and will do damage ( from a maximum at point blank range of about 65 at skill level 25 up to 100 at a skill of 100 ) to any friendly or enemy target ( including the miner themselves ) within that radius . The further away from the center of the blast , the less damage that is done . Mines can also detonate each other if they are set close enough together . This can work in favor when someone tries to take down a particularly tough opponent by hitting it with several blasts at once . However , carelessness in deploying the mines may set the first ones off before the intended victim is within range of them all ( i . e . if getting lazy or rushed and just drop a straight string of them while backing away from an oncoming opponent ) . Disarmed mines will still be detonated by nearby explosions . Laying a mine , disarm it , and laying another , an entire hallway can be detonated once with enough mines and time . This is a great way to take out a group of enemies at once , as they often travel in a line . It is important to consider that some creatures who fly / hover like the Mister Handy and Mister Gutsy robots will not detonate land mines themselves , ( technically , they are not stepping on them ) but will be damaged by the blast from one . If possible , they should be lured over the landmines before shooting them to detonate them ( this can be a little tricky at first ) or simply use a grenade in V . A . T . S . to attack the victim and detonate the landmines at the same time . Like hand grenades , mines can be " reverse pickpocketed " onto a victim , causing them to arm and detonate on their own ( this is handy since enemies are more likely to carry grenades than mines — and the trick cannot be performed with an explosive they already possess ) . One has to be able to sneak close enough behind the victim to " activate " them , then simply move a bomb from one ' s own inventory to theirs . Unless the opponent is particularly tough this is usually a guaranteed kill . Note that " vital " non - player characters cannot be killed in this manner . The explosive will simply not activate when placed in their inventory . Locations . Boxes with frag mines . One frag mine guaranteed , 75 % chance of 2 to 6 mines . Locked boxes with frag mines . Two frag mines guaranteed , 75 % chance of 3 to 12 mines .