Sons of the Forest Rifle Guide: Cave Location and Ammo Tips

Added with Patch 07, the Rifle quickly became one of the most useful firearms on the island. It hits hard, reaches far, and lets you drop high-priority threats before they ever spot you. The downside? It is buried in a cave full of things that bite.

Where the Rifle Hides

The Rifle is tucked inside a cave on the eastern slope of the snowy mountains. Reaching the entrance is straightforward enough. The trouble starts when you step inside, because the cave is shared with a healthy population of cannibals and mutants that did not get the memo about personal space.

Before You Go In

Pack the Rebreather before heading down. Without it, you will hit a flooded section that ends the trip early.

Once you have it, bring a flashlight or a torch. The cavern is one of the larger ones in the game, and visibility inside ranges from dim to almost none.

Navigating to the Rifle

The simplest rule: stick to the right wall and keep moving. The cave forks and loops in places, but the right-hand path leads straight to the prize.

You will run into enemies along the way. You have two options:

• Fight them. Worthwhile if you have spare arrows, a sharp melee weapon, or just frustration to burn.
• Run past them. Hug the right wall, sprint, and outpace anything chasing you. This works surprisingly well and saves resources for the trip back.

Eventually, the cave opens into an underground lake. Dive in and swim forward, still keeping right. When you surface on the other side, keep running along the right wall until a lit chamber appears ahead. That is your destination.

The Rifle rests on a dead body inside that lit area. Loot it. From there, you can either keep clearing the cave for extra resources or retrace your steps to leave through the same entrance you came in.

A Note on Rifle Ammo

The Rifle takes Rifle Ammo, which currently cannot be crafted. You have to scavenge for it across the island. Not every case you crack open will contain rounds, and enemies do not reliably drop them either.

The practical takeaway: treat each round as a small treasure. Save the Rifle for fights where its range and damage actually matter, and lean on bows, spears, or your shotgun for routine cannibal scuffles. Otherwise you will burn through your stockpile faster than you can find more.