the police pistol beat the BAR IMO. im really hoping they bring back the chinesse assault rifle
I'm on my first Dead Money playthrough (in the casino, dealt with Dean, now going to deal with the others) and I've used the Police Pistol a lot. Loaded with JFP handloads, it's great for taking out one or two Ghost People, allowing you to save your MF cells for the larger groups. I have 100 in Guns, though.
Regarding the Holorifle, the upgrades are well worth the SM chips once you find the vendor codes for them.