Based on appearance, effectiveness, practicality etc. What are your favourite New Vegas weapons to use?

For guns, I find the hunting rifle to be the best sniper; it has the nicest sight, with a reasonable rate of fire and quick reload.

For cqb, I like A light shining in darkness or the hunting shotgun. I find myself to be really accurate with the .45 pistols (haven't a clue why) and the incredibly high rate of fire on ALSID to make it very effective, especially in close range. I find the riot shotgun to be too ugly, regardless of how effective it is, so I'll take the rugged hunting shotgun instead.

For melee, Gehenna is my favourite, mainly for how effective it is, especially with pyromaniac. Knock-knock is close, as with super slam, in vats, it makes you virtually invincible against deathclaws.

Although I rarely use unarmed, the power fist and spiked knuckles are awesome, even if playing mainly with guns or energy weapons I'll use these early on.

For explosives, I like the 25mm APW, with a high rate of fire, and good range.

Finally, my favourite energy weapon has to be the Q35. With a high critical chance, in vats, it becomes one of the most powerful weapons in the game, despite having a 25 energy weapons skill requirement.

So...
wbu

The hunting rifle is a nice sniper, if you can find a scope for it. The scope often is very difficult to find, however, at least in my games. My favorite Guns sniper is Christine's CoS Sniper Rifle from OWB. The Ratslayer is also a very nice sniper weapon, at least against enemies like Fiends. For a Cowboy build, don't forget the Medicine Stick, either.

For a sidearm, I'll take Lucky any day of the week. Besides being one of the prettiest guns in the game, it's a beast with a high-crit Cowboy build, and it uses one of the cheapest and most common ammo types you can find.

For energy weapons, my favorite is the fully modded Holorifle from Dead Money, with the Sprtel-Wood 9700 coming in right behind it. With the right build, the Holorifle can one-shot just about any enemy in the game. And nothing dishes out more DPS than the Sprtel-Wood.

ETA - Elijah's Advanced LAER also deserves a mention here, as long as you can craft/buy enough weapon repair kits to keep it in good condition. Or give it to a companion.

Energy Weapons - Holorifle, particularly with the mods and Max Charge ammo.Rifle - the Survivalist's Rifle, mainly for the story behind it, although it is a very decent rifle in its own right. The modded Cowboy Repeater also gets a mention, partly for the cheap ammo and solid reliability, but also for the sound it makes when reloading. Pistol would be A Light Shining in Darkness for its fast firing and damage. Lucky would be an excellent choice for a more critical chance based build.Melee - the fully modded katana, my favourite of all. I believe it's the fastest melee weapon out there, which means a constant stream of damage. Combine it with melee perks like Super Slam and it's truly incredible.

I like the cowboy repeater, but I don't like the sight... it obscures the vision too much for my taste. Lucky is excellent, especially with a high crit build, and the survivalists rifle is also one of my favourites, accurate with high damage, tears through EVERYTHING (quite effective against deathclaws)