I'm returning to the Mojave wasteland after a few months' hiatus (I've been rediscovering Jagged Alliance 2- a classic if there ever was one). Just started a new Courier who is about to leave town. Question is, however- what weapon choices do I take?

In the absence of decent availability of throwing weapons, Melee and Unarmed are out of the question for me. I'm sure they are powerful and awesome, but my personal preference is towards ranged combat.

My well-established "classic" Courier build is a Guns / Explosives hybrid, with Explosives as primary. It's an extremely powerful build at long and medium range, although somewhat weaker than a dedicated Guns or Energy build at extreme close range. The build is perk-intensive as it takes 4-5 perks to optimize the Explosive capability, but once it gets going there's virtually no situation in the game that it can't handle. Due to Mad Bomber, that build is uniquely well-suited to deal with the scarcity of weapons and ammunition in Dead Money.

I'm looking to try something different this time, and the options I can currently see are as follows:

Energy Weapons - What attracts me to this chioce is the chance to explore the new options created by GRA, I haven't done a proper Energy playthrough since GRA came out, so it could be interesting to see, for example, how much more powerful the Heavy Incinerator has become with the new optimized fuel. The downside, as usual, is having to deal with the permanent ash and goo piles; there's a mod for it but I am still wary of mods messing up my game. In addition, I'll be stuck in Dead Money with that weapon that everybody loves and I absolutely loathe, the Holorifle, forever low on ammo and having to switch to guns to conserve.

Shotgunner build - Extremely effective in close quarters, very versatile ammunition, and the sheer fun factor of And Stay Back. However, the need to use semi-auto only weapons means greater wear on my mouse and my index finger. (I have a Logitech gaming mouse, but so far I've been unable to create a "repeat while pressed" macro for it with that fancy-looking Logitech Gaming Software). Another downside is, of course, the lack of shotguns and ammo in Dead Money; what little it does have in that area is either woefully inadequate or it comes too late in the game to be of any real use.

Six-shooter Cowboy - I've done Cowboy playthrough with lever guns, but I've never done a revolver one, and it could be fun. It's less than optimal for some situations, however, as the scoped revolvers cannot be silenced and sneak attacks become difficult. Plus The Dead Money issue remains, as Police Pistol isn't even affected by The Professional.

Any other suggestions, perhaps?