1.) No silencer - MAJOR disadvantage there. Negligible in Pro mode, but in Standard this gets you killed a lot.
2.) Not a one hit kill - What's the point in using an un-silenced sniper if it can't kill in one hit? I can understand if they're using armor mode, but an uncloaked sprinting enemy STILL takes two shots
3.) More recoil/slower fire rate - Unless you get that magical headshot, lining up for the second shot is way harder and takes longer than the DSG-1.
There is zero reason to use the gauss over the DSG-1 for these reasons. I get beat by felines at medium range when using this, because it takes too damn long to fire the second shot, and that's not right. This gun should have unmatched damage capability at distance, and it simply doesn't. What a major letdown.
This thing either needs to be a guaranteed one-shot kill to an unarmored opponent or it needs it's re-fire rate bumped up to actually give you a reason to use it over the standard sniper rifle in Standard game modes. I would recommend bumping the damage personally, because the refire rate adjustment would be faaar too good in Pro mode play.