Burst Rifle

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Burst Rifle is a weapon in Saints Row IV.^[2]

Trades full-auto ability for accurate burst fire.

— Weapon Description^[3]

Overview[]

The Burst Rifle, like its name suggests, is a Burst-Fire rifle as opposed to a Fully-Automatic weapon. This helps the weapon with ammo consumption. The Burst Rifle has an excellent magazine size and only has 5 fewer rounds than the Automatic Rifle when both have fully upgraded magazine sizes. And upgrading the gun reduces the burst delay so its rate of fire reaches almost fully automatic levels.

The Let the Good Times Roll ultimate upgrade is an excellent upgrade while Playa is leveling up, as the upgrade prevents Playa from running out of ammo and allows for sustained use. It becomes redundant when "Ammo - Rifle 4" upgrade is purchased, as all rifle ammo becomes infinite.

An issue with the Burst Rifle is that despite the Burst-Fire fire mode, accuracy when fired in rapid bursts deteriorates extremely rapidly. Both the Automatic Rifle and Alien Rifle are more accurate and have superior rates of fire.

Unfortunately, the Burst Rifle is generally inferior to the AR-55 from Saints Row: The Third. Unlike its predecessor, the Burst Rifle's accuracy deteriorates even at full upgrade, while the Level 4 AR-55 easily reaches extreme ranges with precision. It also cannot scope in, although given that the Burst Rifle is significantly less accurate than the AR-55, a magnified scope would be rendered worthless. The Burst Rifle does have a higher rate of fire and less delay which makes it's more effective at close range, but the AR-55 is better at range and is generally more effective overall.

Upgrades[]

Clip Size, Damage, Rate of Fire and Reload Speed can all be upgraded 5 levels each, with a separate Let the Good Times Roll "ultimate upgrade".^[4]

Availability[]

Available from the SNG in Sierra Point.
ZPD officers around The Simulation occasionally carry Burst Rifles.
Available from SWAT during "Batteries Not Included".

Analysis[]

Pros

Reasonable magazine size.
Let the Good Times Roll upgrade provides additional ammo.

Cons

Burst fire MANDATORY, cannot fire semi-auto or full-auto.
Lag between bursts, unless upgraded.
Ultimate upgrade becomes useless when Ammo - Rifle 4 upgrade is purchased.
Accuracy can deteriorate if fired in rapid bursts.

Costumes[]

There are 3 costumes for the Burst Rifle: Guardsman AR, Impulse Rifle and Soakmaster.

Guardsman AR	Skin
	Default	Military grade stopping power — Guardsman AR - Default skin^[5]
	Freckle Bitch's	The bitch is back! — Guardsman AR - Freckle Bitch's skin^[6]
	Red Plaid	Aye, lad, 'tis a bonnie plaid gun — Guardsman AR - Red Plaid skin^[7]
	Digital Camo	(Unused skin)
Impulse Rifle	Skin
	Default	Remember: Short, controlled bursts. — Impulse Rifle - Default skin^[8]
	Black Gold	It's black. Also, gold. — Impulse Rifle - Black Gold skin^[9]
	Blue Plaid	You've gone to plaid! — Impulse Rifle - Blue Plaid skin^[10]
Soakmaster	Skin
	Default	This ain't no kid's toy. — Soakmaster - Default skin^[11]
	Steampunk	Manufactured by Currey Fluidistics, Ltd — Soakmaster - Steampunk skin^[12]
	Heavy Metal	Rock on! — Soakmaster - Heavy Metal skin^[13]

Trivia[]

The Burst Rifle was first revealed in the Gamesradar E3 gameplay footage.^[14]
The description of the Blue Plaid color for the Impulse Rifle is a reference to the film Spaceballs.
The Guardsman AR resembles the Beretta Mx4 Storm, although the Beretta Cx4 Storm is a semi-automatic 9mm carbine.
The magazine depicted in-game is too small to have 30 rounds. In real-life, a 30-round magazine is about twice the length of the pistol grip.
The Impulse Rifle's name, appearance and description of Default skin are reference to the film Aliens and the M41A Pulse Rifle.
The Heavy Metal skin for the Soakmaster uses Eddie Van Halen's "Frankenstrat" guitar design.
The "Freckle Bitch's" skin is a reference to Freckle Bitch's, the red logo and yellow background colour are both from the Freckle Bitch's sign.^[15]
The falling tiles motif is from Saints Row 2 vehicle decals.^[16]