Getting to know your guns

1 hander pistols

Description These pistols shoot flame based rockets that deal direct and splash dmg, capable of igniting folks.
Rate of fire 85 shots/minute
Personal note Excellent duel wielded as aoe guns. Decent cone spread so not to bad on accuracy.

SRAC Machine Gun Pistols

Description Machine guns in pistol form.
Rate of Fire 250 per minute
Personal Note the spread on these guns are kinda high on autofire.

Description High rate of fire machine gun/rocket hybrids.
Rate of Fire 600 per minute
Personal Note Definitely want some +accuracy % mods on these suckers to make the spread more managable. Otherwise, very popular in rapid fire builds. Requires substantial Str to duel wield.

Description Fire grenades that arc downward as they travel. Deal direct and splash dmg.
Rate of Fire Medium*
Personal Note The arc is a bit short on these guns, however you can increase the range somewhat by shotting higher the correct the arc.

Description Drops explosive mines that last about 10 seconds in front of your character. Useful for backpedalling.
Rate of Fire ****
Personal Note Can be powerful aoes, but the mines dont last long at all once you drop em.

Description Decent range to snipe with. Have a bit less accuracy on them.
Rate of Fire ****
Personal NotePersonal Sniper that can be combined with other guns. Havent found to much use for them. Multi shot makes it 6 bullets, might be somewhat useful (shrug)

Description Its a minishotgun.
Rate of Fire Medium*
Personal Note excellent at short range, but have high spread of fire that nullifies medium range.

2handers

Description- Otherwise known as old reliables, decent at medium range/short they fire with varying spread cones but most of which are manageable. Have varying levels of mod slots available with Volts having up to 8, Exos at 6, and 25mm at 5.
Rate of Fire- 300 for 25mm, 400 for volts, 600 for some arclights
Personal note- Ol Reliable I love these guns for general purpose shooting, can be highly customized and can serve in most situations. *** as was pointed out, there are a -b version of the 25mm that deal splash damage, very rare however.

Description- Shoots projectiles that open hit spray shrapnel from the point of hit. Deals Direct and splash dmg if shrapnel hits a target. Shrapnel flies off in random directions from point of impact.
Rate of Fire- 65 per minute*
Personal note- Another favorite of mine- works wonders with Ricochet, and has a decent number of mod slots.

Description- shoots a rockets that deals dmg and then forms a field of fire at the feet of enemies.
Rate of Fire- Slow***
Personal Note- Excellent for taking out multiple weak enemies, but careful to use againsnt strong singles.

SNPR- sniper rifle

Description- Another staple. This long range rifle shots 1 high powered shot up to 40 or more meters. Usually does Spectral dmg.
Rate of Fire - 24 per minute
Personal Note- Useful when shooting from far enough away that you dont aggro, and picking off summoners/rares/legends in combo with skills/stances. Works well with Multishot for frontloading dmg.

Description- Shoots out an arcing rocket that deal direct and splash dmg in about a 5m radius.
Rate of Fire- 24 per minute
Personal Note- Excellent for taking out large groups of enemies. Slow rate of fire may cause problems when they get into melee. KABOOM is this guns name.

Description- Laser gun which shoots out a lightning beam dmg enemies per the second.
Rate of Fire- per second
Personal Note- Popular gun that recharges to full in about a second. Useful with Rapid Fire for multiple arcs.

Shock Cannon-Shotgun

Description- shoots out a quasi "buckshot" in a wide spread. Excellent in short range. 5 projectiles are shoot out.
Rate of Fire- medium***
Personal Note- useful at short range as each projectile does a respectable amount of dmg.

Description- Called the weed whacker this thing lets you get in close to slice and dice a bit. Puts you in dangerous area though.
Rate of Fire- ****
Personal Note- not a fan of being within striking range but to each their own. Requires a bit of Str to use.

Description- Shoots arcing lighting bolts that when they hit the ground take a second to blow up dealing lightning splash dmg.
Rate of Fire- medium***
Personal Note- the quasi fuse it takes for the projectile to fire makes me not like this weapon at all. :S

Description- Rocket launcher that shoots out quasi homing rockets, about 7-8 of them. Deals direct dmg and splash
Rate of Fire- Medium***
Personal Note- Useful for taking out groups of enemies and somewhat useful for singles if all projectiles hit. I know one problem I had was some of the projectiles would curve down and hit the floor before hitting the enemy.
A note from Zaelot- Trident Launchers launch their rockets with a small delay, and that lets you control the spread as you like. For example, you can make a spread to hit multiple enemies horizontally by swiping your mouse (turning quickly) while you shoot. When aiming for single enemy, best to try and keep him in sights all the time, try directly backpedaling or something. (Otherwise you might have those missed shots, as you described about accidentally hitting the ground.)