Please re-evaluate your concept of "upgrade to a better gun"

So at present the way the game is setup is that every gun has an actual tier of how good it is (community rated), with and without mods.
The P2020 without Hammer Point being bottom of the barrel to a Fully Geared PK or R301 being near the top (not being specific).

This does not work based on the games design. You should never have to "completely swap your gun" to what is classified as "a better gun".
A base P2020, RE-45 and Mozambique should have their own usage perks over a base PK, R99, or Flatline.
The Alternator and RE-45 were, for a brief time, a good choice over other guns with the Disruptor rounds.

Those kind of perks should perhaps be tested with the mods each season, and then rolled into the guns in question in a more balanced format at seasons end. The wingman inherited some of its headshot damage when SkullPiercer was shelved. Even the Havoc got tweaked so it feels good with select fire. Why didn't RE-45 & Alternator? It was over-tuned during that season, but the concept made those two guns solid choices when geared. Even if the damage modifier is 1.3 or 1.5 against shields (vs the 2.26 & 1.7 you gave it previously) that would be a massive improvement. The P2020 should also honestly have a bit more damage, with Hammer Point bringing it to the same place as before.

Things like faster swapping to these smaller weapons (which makes sense) or better reload.

The game would feel better if it was just "pick your gun and upgrade it" over the concept of "upgrade to a better gun". And while this has improved over time with the introduction of various mods like Hammer Point for P2020, that doesn't do it much good when its standalone weak. Resulting in everyones favourite scenario of "I dropped in an area and found 2 pistols and 1 bique"....

Please strongly consider. While it might not fit the original image idea. That doesn't mean its the wrong choice.
No one likes luck of the draw where you either get the worst gun or no gun at all..... 

I also personally want more reasons to use various guns for different scenarios or strategies. Including enjoying nice skins for specific weapons I have but almost never get to use because the gun isn't "meta or balanced".