SegmentNextGTA San Andreas Weapons: Every Class, Ammu-Nation Prices, Free Guns
There are three ways to arm Carl in San Andreas and only one of them costs money. You can buy from Ammu-Nation, you can pick weapons up where the game leaves them lying, or you can earn a permanent spawn at one of his own properties by finishing a collectible set. The third is the one most players miss, and it is also the one this folder is best placed to explain, because our collectible pages are where those spawns come from.
What Ammu-Nation Charges
| Class | Weapons | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Handguns | 9mm Pistol | $200 |
| Silenced 9mm | $600 | |
| Desert Eagle | $1,200 | |
| Shotguns | Shotgun | $600 |
| Sawn-off Shotgun | $800 | |
| Combat Shotgun | $1,000 | |
| Submachine guns | Tec-9 | $300 |
| Micro SMG | $500 | |
| SMG | $2,000 | |
| Assault rifles | AK-47 | $3,500 |
| M4 | $4,500 | |
| Rifles | Country Rifle | $1,000 |
| Sniper Rifle | $5,000 | |
| Thrown | Grenades | $300 |
| Remote explosives | $2,000 |
The heavy weapons, the flamethrower, minigun, rocket launcher and heat-seeking launcher, are not shop stock in the ordinary way; they are found, earned or spawned. Melee is the same: bats, katanas, golf clubs, knives, nightsticks, pool cues, shovels and the chainsaw all sit around the map waiting to be picked up rather than bought.
Free Spawns At Carl's Own Properties
Two of the three collectible sets on our collectibles guide pay in guns rather than in cash, which makes them the cheapest armoury in the game.
| What you finish | Where the guns appear |
|---|---|
| All 100 Los Santos tags | Weapons at Carl's own place, and Grove Street homies start carrying Desert Eagles and MP5s instead of pistols |
| All 50 San Fierro snapshots | Four weapon spawns at the Doherty Garage, on top of $100,000 |
| Dating Helena Wankstein | Her tool shed opens, holding a flamethrower, Molotovs and a pistol |
The tag reward is the one to chase early, because it upgrades your backup as well as your own loadout. The Helena entry is temporary in the sense that it depends on the relationship, and the details of that are on our girlfriends page.
Weapon Skill Changes What A Gun Is
San Andreas tracks a separate skill for most gun classes and raises it with use. The effects are not cosmetic: accuracy improves, the movement penalty while shooting eases, and at the top rank, Hitman, several weapons can be carried in both hands at once. The pistol, the sawn-off shotgun, the Tec-9 and the Micro SMG are the dual-wield candidates, which is why a cheap Tec-9 in trained hands outperforms an expensive gun in untrained ones.
That makes the early Ammu-Nation decision less about damage than about what you intend to practise with. Buying the $300 Tec-9 and using it is worth more than saving for the $3,500 AK-47 and using it badly.
The Shortcut
Three weapon set codes exist, one per tier, and they work on every platform. On PC they are LXGIWYL, PROFESSIONALSKIT and UZUMYMW; on a controller they are the three R1, R2, L1, R2 sequences in our cheats list, which also carries the infinite ammo code. The cost is the same as always: trophies and achievements switch off on that save the moment one is entered.
Weapon Questions
What is the best weapon in GTA San Andreas?
For general use the M4 at $4,500, and for a smaller budget the combat shotgun at $1,000. A dual-wielded Micro SMG at Hitman skill outperforms both at close range, which is the argument for picking one weapon class and sticking with it.
Where can you get free weapons?
From the tag reward at Carl's place, the snapshot reward at the Doherty Garage, Helena's shed, and the pickups scattered across the map. The collectible routes are mapped on our collectibles guide.
Do you lose weapons when you are wasted?
Normally yes, and that is the single most useful girlfriend reward in the game, since Katie Zhan's means you keep them. Everything else the state gives out city by city is on our GTA San Andreas hub.