As I level up I'm seeing some serious weapons improvements, but up till 10 at least rifles are shit, shotguns are a joke and pistols are fucking awe inspiring. Hell, my heavy weapon right now is a hyperion elemental pistol. The thing takes down anything once I can fucking hit something with it. Also Sniper rifles with 5 round burst fire... I thought it was a joke at first, then I dropped a badass in one burst. I might only have 12 shots with it, but by god each time something died.
Finally found a decent rifle with auto fire, and bursts while aiming down the sights, but I still wind up using different weapons from time to time. I'm seeing more and more interesting(and accurate) weapons outside of pistols now though, it may get better as higher level weapons are introduced.