I've got a wounding combat rifle with the .308 receiver that seems to be the best thing I can get. I've got Rifleman maxed. It's got 135 or 185 damage... I forget... plus the wounding effect. It's got 203 range or something like that, high accuracy, and a 49 ROF.
I haven't done any of the DLCs yet. I haven't even finished the story either.
I've been going to Dunwitch Borers and trying different guns on the same Raider Veteran on Very Hard difficulty (at level 67) to see what works best.
I've got the Overseer's Guardian, but it doesn't do VATS well at range and the wounding rifle seems to be more effective outside of VATS anyway.
I've tried Spray N Pray (without maxxing Commando, maybe I should try that) and the wounding rifle needed 5 or 6 rounds to drop the Veteran, where Spray N Pray needed tons of ammo pumped into it.
I maxed out The Deliverer and maxed Gunslinger. It was pretty good at close range on head shots, but has crap long range.
I tried a wounding combat shotgun thinking maybe getting close would destroy enemies. The wounding rifle was still better.
I've got a base gauss rifle and a modded one that does over 400 damage, but the wounding rifle is still better.
Kellog's pistol with Gunslinger maxed wasn't impressive. I've tried an incendiary 10mm pistol maxed out. Not impressive either.
Missle launchers, grenade launchers, sniper/hunting rifles with really low rates of fire aren't fun. I've got some miniguns (no Big Guns points) but the way they have to warm up to fire is annoying, and they rip through ammo.
The wounding rifle can pick stuff off from far away in or out of VATS, and it fires pretty quickly out of VATS.
Is there anything that I'm not aware of yet?