Heavy or Light Bowgun

They are both situational weapons. I dotn have as much experience in the matter as some people. But this is the best guide out there IMO, and will highlight the differences nicely.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/psp/943356-monster-hunter-freedom-unite/faqs/56818

i typicaly roll with the light bowgun. i dont do well when i dont move fast lol. also i like the versitility of light bowguns over heavy. when u get blunt force on with it, its almost a god weapon. plus i have a few with rapid fire which i know does decreaced damage per shot, but it still does more in the long run. each shot does like 60-80% damage with rapid fire, but 60+60 is 120, so its better than one 100% round. idk if i have all that right, but thats what ive gathered.

quote hudderst

Rage, the rapid fire does less damage per second as each shot does less damage but with only a slightly greater rate of fire. However when you are likely to run out of ammo it is better as you do more damage per used bullet.

If you'd had experience gunning, you'd know that you don't need a rapid-fire gun to take out the monster with the ammo you bring (with combines). Auto-reload makes this process go faster along with proper armor skills.

Heavy bowguns get the strong edge in this game, and I urge you to get to know how to use them. LBGs are very useful, and can usually contribute to pretty quick kill times, but it's better to invest in heavy bowguns when on average their kill times in this game are 25% faster.

However, it's your choice in the end, both have their strengths and weaknesses. Experiment with both, read the compendium. I'm sure mazereon can contribute if he wants to.

So you would conserve ammunition which you can easily replenish from buying at the store for the sake of lower DoT? It makes sense for Dual and Epic hunting quests when ammo conservation is needed, but...

...Say one shot does 2 damage in 1 second and another does 3 in 2 seconds. (just an easy example here, no shot actually does 2 or 3 damage IIRC)

Shot 1: 4 damage in 2 seconds

Shot 2: 3 damage in 2 seconds

This basically represents how the percentage is higher for each single shot bullet fired in the time it takes for a rapid-fire shot.

Say you're able to fire continuously for a minute (60 seconds)

Shot 1: 120 damage in one minute

Shot 2: 90 damage in one minute

The difference isn't big in the beginning, but later it is (a difference in 30 to be precise, and it'll increase over time)

Now take an actual monster fight. They don't just stand there fiddling with their violins (like in LoA with Takemi card), they attack you and chances are that a couple of bullets from that rapid-fire will hit a different hitzone when a monster turns to face you unless you've got seriously good aim and prediction of monster movements. Right there is another example: It's easier to aim a single shot accurately equaling higher damage right there. With auto-reload, it becomes even more easier.

Edit: Rapid-fire isn't a bad thing in reality and is pretty awesome to use, but when you take into the account of comparing damage between it and single shot firing (with auto-reload), it won't win.

In P3rd, rapid-fire wins because of some changes in the damage values of the guns and the fact the LBG and HBG do the same elemental damage. Also, they took out auto-reload

oooookay. this all makes more sense now. THANK YOU!!!!! lol. i was looking at damage per round, not minute. thanks for clearing that up!!!
so what would be some good hbgs? i typicaly try to find some that have a wide variety of elemental shot where lbgs are concerned. i literaly just barely started getting into bowgunning.

Yes. I know rapid-fire is a lower dps but it has got it's situational uses and that's what I was trying to say
For example dual black grav and rapid fire water-s has never let me down.

The only times you'd *want* RF are for when you can't kill the creature without the extra ammo it offers. Dual Black Gravios at G rank is the classic example - the Ultimate Lao Shan cannon with Heroics can't kill it with 60 Water S and combines, but the Martial Ancestor (RF Water S) can kill them both.

For creatures like Shen, you don't need RF; since you don't need any mobility, Raw, clip size for Pierce shots and recoil are the most important factors.

Apart from Gravios, other times when you'd want RF aren't common. If ease of use rather than raw power is your goal, it'll be useful on anything elementally weak though (like Naruga, Khezu, Chameleos, etc). Given the recoil value that is fixed (so can't be changed with a Silencer or Recoil+ skills) you don't want to RF any recoil-ing shots or risk getting hit badly or waiting a long time for openings.