You’re wandering through the Mojave, probably kicking through the dust near Scorpion Gulch, and you think you’ve got everything under control. Then you check your quest log. "Find the missing laser pistol." It sounds like the easiest job in Fallout: New Vegas. It’s a fetch quest. We do them in our sleep. But then you get to the rock where the pistol is supposed to be, and there is absolutely nothing there but dirt and disappointment.
It’s gone.
This isn't just you being unobservant. The FNV missing laser pistol is one of the most notorious bugs in a game already famous for having more bugs than a Pre-War kitchen. It’s part of the "Pistol-Packing" unmarked quest for the Brotherhood of Steel, specifically given by Knight Torres in the Hidden Valley bunker. If you can’t find it, you can’t finish the task, and for completionists, that’s a nightmare.
Why the Laser Pistol Vanishes Into Thin Air
The "Missing Laser Pistol" isn't actually missing in the lore sense; it’s often missing from the game’s physics engine. Usually, the pistol is sitting on a rock in a ravine between Hidden Valley and Helios One. Specifically, it's near a bunch of radscorpions.
Here is the thing about New Vegas: items aren't always "glued" to the world. When the cell loads, the physics engine kicks in. If a radscorpion bumps into that rock, or if a grenade goes off nearby, or even if the game just calculates the "drop" wrong when you enter the area, that pistol can clip right through the ground. It falls into the void. It’s essentially under the map, forever out of reach of your cursor.
Sometimes, a wandering NPC or an enemy might even pick it up. If a traveler happens to path through that ravine and sees a weapon on the ground, the AI is programmed to grab it if it's better than what they currently have. Now you aren't looking for a static object; you're looking for a needle in a haystack that's currently walking toward Novac.
The "Wait and See" Strategy
Before you start screaming at your monitor, try the simplest fix. Leave the area. Go to a completely different part of the map—maybe Goodsprings or the Strip—and wait for three in-game days. This allows the cell to reset. When you come back, the game sometimes re-calculates the position of loose items. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s a lot less stressful than digging through the game’s backend.
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Keep in mind that if the pistol was picked up by an NPC who then died and despawned, this won't help. But for clipping issues? It’s your first line of defense.
How to Fix the FNV Missing Laser Pistol Using the Console
If you are playing on PC, you have a massive advantage. You don't have to play detective. You just have to be a god for five seconds. The console is your best friend when New Vegas decides to be New Vegas.
Open the console with the tilde (~) key.
You have two main options here. You can move yourself to the pistol, or move the pistol to you. Personally, I prefer moving the pistol. It’s cleaner. You’ll need the RefID for the specific quest item. This isn't just any laser pistol; it's a unique quest object.
Type this: prid 00101776 and hit enter.
Then type: moveto player and hit enter.
The pistol should literally fall out of the sky and land at your feet. If that doesn't work, it's possible the item was somehow deleted from the game world entirely (which is rare but happens). In that case, you have to spawn a new one using the BaseID.
Type: player.additem 001016ed 1
Boom. Quest progressed. If you're on a console like Xbox or PlayStation, though? You're in for a much harder time. You don't have a command line. You have to rely on save-scumming. Always keep multiple saves. If you get to the ravine and the pistol isn't there, reload a save from before you ever entered that specific map cell.
The Most Common Location Errors
People often look in the wrong spot because the quest marker in New Vegas can be... let's call it "optimistic." It points you to the general vicinity, but not the exact rock. You are looking for a specific flat rock in a ravine filled with scorpions. There’s usually a dead initiate nearby, or at least the implication that someone was there.
Check the surrounding bushes.
The physics engine loves to hide things in flora. If you use a lot of texture mods or "overgrowth" mods, that pistol might be buried under three layers of high-definition grass that wasn't in the base game. Turn off your grass in the settings if you're desperate; it makes the ground bald and reveals everything hiding in the weeds.
The Brotherhood of Steel Context
Why do we even care about this missing hunk of metal? Knight Torres is the quartermaster. If you're trying to get into the Brotherhood’s good graces, or if you just want access to their high-tier armory, completing these small favors is the fastest route.
It’s an unmarked quest. That means it doesn't show up in your main quest log with a big flashy "Quest Started" notification. It’s tucked away in your "Notes" or just lives in your memory. This is part of why it's so frustrating—without a formal quest tracker, the game doesn't always provide the "quest quest" logic that prevents items from despawning.
Dealing with the Paladin in the Way
Sometimes the issue isn't that the pistol is gone, but that the quest triggers are stuck. You need to talk to the initiate who lost it. His name is Stanton. He’s usually hanging out in the middle level of the Hidden Valley bunker. If he doesn't give you the dialogue about losing the pistol, Torres won't accept it even if you find it.
New Vegas is a web of scripts. If you pull one thread too hard, the whole thing uncoils. Make sure you've talked to Stanton first. Make sure he's admitted his shame. Only then should you go out into the wasteland to play janitor.
Mod Conflicts and the Missing Pistol
If you've spent three hours installing 200 mods from Nexus, don't be surprised when things go missing. "World-space" mods are the usual suspects. Anything that changes the terrain of the Mojave—adds trees, moves rocks, or changes lighting—can accidentally bury the laser pistol under a new piece of geometry.
If you’re using a mod like "A World of Pain" or various interior/exterior overhauls, the pistol might be physically inside a new object.
The "Yukichigai Unofficial Patch" (YUP) is pretty much mandatory for New Vegas in 2026. It fixes thousands of bugs, including some of the spawn issues with quest items. If you aren't running YUP, you're essentially playing a version of the game that's held together by duct tape and hope. Install the patch, and many of these "missing" item bugs simply vanish because the modders fixed the placement coordinates so they don't clip through the ground.
Identifying the Right Item
Just a heads up: don't try to hand Torres a standard laser pistol you looted off a Bright Follower. She won't take it. She’s looking for that specific pistol. It looks the same, but in the game's code, it's a different entity.
If you see a laser pistol in the ravine and pick it up, check your inventory. If it doesn't have a weight of 0 (most quest items are weightless) or a specific "Missing Laser Pistol" name in the quest item section, it’s the wrong one.
Practical Steps to Recover the Missing Laser Pistol
Stop wandering aimlessly. Follow this workflow to get the quest done and get back to the main story.
- Talk to Stanton. Ensure the dialogue tree is fully exhausted. He needs to admit he lost the gun near the radscorpions.
- Hard Save. Do this before you get near the ravine.
- Scout the Ravine. Look for the flat rock. If it's not there, use a grenade. Sometimes the explosion's physics impulse can "pop" a clipped item back above the ground. It sounds crazy, but it works.
- Check the Local NPCs. If there’s a dead prospector or a traveling merchant nearby, check their corpses or inventories.
- The 72-Hour Reset. Go to the Lucky 38, wait 72 hours, and return.
- Console Commands (PC Only). Use
prid 00101776followed bymoveto player. This is the "I'm done with this" button.
Once you have the pistol, head back to Knight Torres. Completing this not only helps your reputation with the Brotherhood of Steel but also cleans up your unmarked quest notes. It's a small victory in a game that tries very hard to break itself.
Just remember: in the Mojave, things stay lost because the desert is vast, but in New Vegas, things stay lost because the collision mesh failed. Knowing the difference is the key to keeping your sanity. Check your saves often, keep your patches updated, and don't be afraid to use the console when the game stops playing fair.