TL;DR: DUST rifles don't feel like battle rifles with operational quirks.

They feel like quirks someone tried to build a functional battle rifle around. And it's not working very well.

Ladies and gentlemen, lunatics and neckbeards

I liked weapons in 1.7 lol, back when everything except the Duvolle was a beast.

The AR is really good IMO, the CR is pretty good, ScR is ok, and the RR is terrible.

I never used RRs, but I never thought they were OP. They did pretty good damage from distance and was an ok CQC weapon. There was never really anything special about it, but it did it's job well and it was a good long range weapon.

Of course the QQers got a hold of it and got it nerfed though. CCP Rattati has this game in a good place, it's about time he stops listening to the QQers so damn much and let us guide the newbies on how to survive.

The ARR is still really good I use it as my CQC Caldari Assault loadout. The RR is just now more like the TAR where it's primarily supposed to be a longish range aim down sights weapon. The only reason it seems imbalanced right now imo is because the ScR still hasn't been fixed to not be effective in CQC as well. Hopefully its hip-fire dispersion and/or kick will be increased to put it in line with the other precision rifles of the RR and TAR. The AScR is supposed to be the CQC variant of the ScR which is also why the AScR is rare to see because the ScR is effective in CQC.

Even if they make the ScR hipfire worse it will still be used as a CQC weapon. The scope has less zoom than your SMG so it becomes useless as a long range weapon. Due to the fact we don't have weapon ranges ingame the scope prefers short ranges over long ranges, you can still use it for long ranges but it's scope tells a different story.

You have to consider that what you talk about as operational efficiency is a complaint of the meta game. Only reason why CR seems more combat effective is that Amarr and Gallente are more popular suits right now, mostly because shields are currently in the nerf cycle. The only weapon with the same operation as the CR is the burst AR which if the adv burst had the same RPM as the proto burst the adv AR would be comparative.

Assuming equal player skill, if two Caldari shield tanks one with a proto burst AR and one with a Proto CR fought, the Caldari with the burst is more likely to win. Likewise true for the AR/AScR vs. the ACR/ARR. The shield profiled weapon would be favored.

The reason the CR is seemingly the most effective is because it has the highest armor profile damage and armor tanking is the most popular strategy in the meta.

Essentially if you want more normalized weapons, the only way that would occur is if damage profiles were removed and all weapons did 100% to both shields and armor. This would in my opinion only take away from the game however.

The real issue is that shields suck in comparison to armor right now, not that armor profiled weapons are too powerful.

I think this is largely accurate but it doesnt explicitly state the spoiler in the meta here: the scrambler rifle just completely wrecks shield suits. It is too much to expect a shield tanker to feel comfortable using shield only tank when a weapon can fire one volley of shots and burn away 500 shields in under half a second.

I mentioned this in my post above and I want to repeat it: the damage profile for the scrambler rifle really makes shield tanking suicidal when there is a weapon in the game that can just melt shields so quickly, and unlike the laser rifle there is no drawback to using it, scrambler rifles are good in CQC and at nearly rail rifle distances as well.

AR and its variants can chew through 500 shields like its paper as well although not as quickly as the scrambler although I absolutely agree the scrambler needs tweaking. I think changing its damage profile is unnecessary though as I have no trouble chewing through Armored suits with a AScR as I think I mentioned in another post earlier you really want to use its reflex scope as it does disperse like crazy in hip fire. The ScR I think will be better if it's redesigned to function like the TAR and RR, IE. wilder hipfire and stronger kick along with a stronger scope.

All of this I'm saying though as someone who uses advanced level of all rifle types along with advanced level Cal, Gal, and Min assaults, Cal and Min logis, Cal and Min sentinels, Cal and Min commandos, and Cal scouts. Being someone who specialized in nothing I can't quite speak for proto level although from what I've seen they still trend the same power wise with the exception of the Burst AR. The Allotek Burst is actually good while the adv Burst is pretty garbage which is all because the adv Burst has a lower RPM which was a relic left over from when Uprising first hit and has been ignored throughout all the rifle rebalances.

Edit: As far as needing to aim down sight with the AScR, it does make sense if you consider that its an Amarrian weapon. The Amarr suits are designed to outlast opponents by being slow but being heavily armored and packing a huge punch, therefore strafing or standing still while aiming down the sight seems agreeable with them. Anyone else using the weapon just has to remember they weren't the optimal operator.

Strikes me as a fair suggestion that reminds me of the the way MAG used to balance things.

Arguably each faction had its own style.

SVER - Hit harder but fired slower
Raven - Had the greatest stability but the smallest calibre bullets
Valour - Had an even handed mix of both

TL;DR: DUST rifles don't feel like battle rifles with operational quirks.

They feel like quirks someone tried to build a functional battle rifle around. And it's not working very well.

I was seriously considering posting a new topic on "Weapon Naming Conventions & Eliminating Racial Stereotypes." Then I saw this topic. Thanks for bring this up!
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*Note: I am aware that there are actions in effect to deliver the complete weapon arsenal, meaning that the missing variants of each weapon will be delivered when the time comes. I want to put this out as a possible consideration for design implementation.

Issues:
-Rifles are incredibly specialized, effectively overlooking the philosophy of being the most adaptable infantry weapon.
-Variant "prefixes" are tethered to racial stereotypes, which further promote the previously mentioned specialization of weapons.
-There is a lack of incentive to create weapon / suit synergies due to playstyle restrictions associated with the specialization of weapons.

Suggestion:
-Equalize rifles by eliminating "prefix stereotyping" for each race.
-Variant prefixes should be normalized, yet offer a definitive playstyle.
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Old Assault Rifle Prefix Sterotyping:
- Amarr = Tactical
- Caldari = Breach
- Gallente = Assault
- Minmatar = Burst

Suggested Prefix Definitions (Scaled from low-to-high, 1-4):
prefix = Magazine Capacity , Rate of Fire , Damage Per Round , Damage Falloff
- Assault = 4, 3, 2, 2
- Breach = 2, 2, 3, 1
- Burst = 3, 4, 1, 4
- Tactical = 1, 1, 4, 3

Suggested Racial Qualities:
- Amarr: Highest Damage Per Round, but has heat generation
- Caldari: Lowest Damage Falloff, but has a spool time
- Gallente: Highest Ammunition Carried, but average performance
- Minmatar: Highest Rate of Fire, but poor handling
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Example of New Rifles:

Scrambler Rifles:
-Generic: Automatic like the current Assault Scrambler, but with the clip and heat generation of the current standard Scrambler.
-Assault: Like the current Assault Scrambler.
-Breach: Charged shots only, but charge is relatively short. Handles like a futuristic bow & arrow.
-Burst: Semi-auto single shot, with charge shot delivers burst, but instant overheat.
-Tactical: Semi-Auto Scrambler already known and loved.

Rail Rifles:
-Generic: Like the current Rail Rifle.
-Assault: Like the current Assault Rail Rifle, however no spool time. Rate of fire accelerates the longer the trigger is held.
-Breach: Effectively the bigger brother of the Bolt Pistol.
-Burst: Effectively a mid-range shotgun with a spool time.
-Tactical: Effective the younger brother of the Charge Sniper Rifle.

Combat Rifles:
-Generic: Like a hella nerfed Assault Combat Rifle.
-Assault: Like a upscaled Sub-Machine Gun.
-Breach: Like the current Assault Rifle.
-Burst: Current Combat Rifle.
-Tactical: Effectively like a bigger Scrambler Pistol.

Blaster Rifles:
-Generic: More like the current Assault Rail Rifle, without a spool time.
-Assault: Current Assault Rifle.
-Breach: More like current Assault Scrambler Rifle.
-Burst: Current Burst Assault Rifle.
-Tactical: Current Tactical Assault Rifle.

This plus a more refined range progression. I love your description of the amarr breachrifle

Isn't this what the assault variants are for?

This assumes that assault variants are available the moment you begin skilling into a weapon- or at least at [weapon] Ops L2.

Unfortunately, this has not been the case since the release of Uprising.

I really wish they would make std variants of everything, thats always bugged me. If the weapon is too OP to have a standard variant or something, why is it even in the game?

Hmm, Militia Assault Variants were just announced... Already available on Frontline Starter fits.