I feel like I have to defend the Service Rifle here. No: it is not the most damaging weapon available. But is it is "good"? I believe it is.
- It shoots the incredibly common 5.56mm round, with the option to shoot hollowpoints or armor piercing depending on target type, and ultra cheap surplus ammo for general plinking.
- Its extremely high durability, combined with the lost cost of repairing it, means you will have to try extra extra hard to ever wear the thing out.
- Due to high durability, one of the only weapons for which Surplus ammo actually makes sense. You will never have a problem keeping this weapon fed.
- Not a sniper weapon, but it's accurate enough to engage targets at medium distances and score head shots further away than "jam the muzzle against their forehead" like some weapons.
- If you learn to feather the trigger at the right speed, the rate of fire is decent. Combine that with a large magazine and very rapid reloads, and it becomes a very satisfactory weapon for prolonged engagements.
Basically to me the service rifle is the cheap rugged warhorse that will engage and defeat most enemies with little fuss. Granted: it is not as good as an SMG up close, or as accurate as a hunting rifle far away, but it exists between those two weapons. It shines when engaging a lot of weak enemies (geckos, ants, molerats etc), and loses relevance as target size increases.
So it's just extremely average, and to be honest I agree, it doesn't have any strong points, except for that it doesn't have any weak points either. It doesn't have any weaknesses except for the fat that it doesn't have any strengths either.
Still, I never used is, because I think it's not accurate enough, nor does it have a ROF high enough to use the gun as my personal weapon. That said, it shines when used by squads, exactly the way the NCR works. That still means the Service Rifle has a function, namely, to give the NCR the appearance of a professional army, without overpowering their troopers.
Still, I think the model used should have been the M1, as with the current model I just get the feeling that this game was sponsored by ArmaLite, your choice in post-apocalyptic weaponry.