I'm not sure, but the listed stats look terrible.

http://arcanum.wikia.com/wiki/Mechanized_Gun

If I'm reading that properly, it deals 1-30 damage per 6-round burst. That's like .17-5 damage per bullet. The Repeating Rifle required to make it is vastly superior, and the Fine Revolver is even better than that (as well as being the 2nd crafting schematic with both required parts available at the crash site). Unless I'm reading something wrong, Mechanized Gun is junk.

Looks like the speed is supposed to be the advantage of the mechanized gun. With 25 speed it will kill things in a small number of action points. But it will absolutely chew through ammo, as you've pointed out. The repeater rifle only costs 1/3 of the ammo per shot, but it's a little slower and does half the damage. In DPS terms, the mechanized gun has the potential to do more than three times the damage of the repeater rifle (if it hits its max damage of 30 each time instead of its minimum of 1) but it also uses 3 times the bullets. Give the random spread in actual damage dealt, the mechanized gun is likely to only do about twice the damage of the repeater rifle at three times the ammo cost. It's probably a better idea to use more ammo-efficient guns even if they don't kill things as quickly.

Has anyone actually tried out the mechanized gun? How does it fare in practice?

Thanks for the insight. Speed isn't something I really considered. I'm still pretty early in the game, so it's hard not to balk at the ammo consumption.

Your safest bet is to buy bullets schematic early on and invest single point in Explosives. That way you'll be able to make your own ammo rather easy, since it requires charcoal, which can be found in every rubbish bin, and saltpaper, which is also not hard to come buy. You get about twenty bullets every time you combine them.

Buying ammo for your guns isn't really economical.

I agree. But making ammo is frustratingly time-consuming as well.

Here's what you have to do, once you've bought and learned the Bullets schematic:

1) Visit every rubbish bin in Tarant (or whatever town you're in) to scrounge up as much charcoal as you can.

2) Visit the general store, the inventor, the junk dealer and/or the herbalist, and buy out their saltpeter for the day.

3) Combine the items to make bullets.

4) You won't have enough (you never have enough) so walk away from everyone,* advance the clock by one full day, and repeat step 1 above.

Basically, being a gunfighter means grinding for bullets. Not cool, man; not cool.

*Anything within one full screen of where you are when you "sleep" won't reset or restock their contents/wares the next day. This is a minor annoyance for garbage cans, but absolutely critical for shopkeepers.

That explains a lot. I've been grinding rubbish bins for parts to make Hand-Crafted Flintlocks and noticed sometimes the shopkeepers don't restock. Never put two and two together, but I still made around $5k gold from selling trash guns.

I have. Also, someone over at Terra Arcanum did the math on it, and it has the highest damage output of any firearm in the game.

Unfortunately it's unusable as a main weapon.

Even utilizing every method already mentioned in this thread, you simply will not have enough bullets to keep it supplied. I went bankrupt from buying bullets when I used it, even supplemented with my home loads. And one thing you can't forget is that bullets have weight. You can only carry so many of them. Even loaded to groaning you'll run through your whole supply so fast it will amaze you. Three or four combats and it's time to hike back to Tarant to spend days gathering more ammo. If you're already in Tarant it can be done, but it's not so fun if you're over in elfie land or regions even further afield.

Biggest teaser weapon in Arcanum. Infuriating to watch orc bandits dodge most of you precious bullets, too.

I wonder if it would be useful as a reserve weapon, used only for the toughest fights? Then again, in the late game the fights aren't really that tough anyway... plus I'm guessing the mechanized gun itself is very heavy.

Yeah, it's too heavy to carry around for situational use, especially with the large amount of ammo you also have to carry.

The Tesla Gun is the best Firearm in the game, IMO. It's ammo is cheaper and lighter than bullets, it uses it up at a rational pace, and it does electrical damage so it can still hurt the Tech resistant critters you meet in the later stages.