Reach Assault Rifle completely worthless?

 EDIT: SORRY I don't know how in the world this got put in general I was in the Reach forums to post this not sure what just happened!
 
Hey guys after my extended time with the Beta for the past couple of days I can't help but notice that the standard assault rifle is borderline useless, I never use it and I hardly ever see anyone else using it. I personally switch to the pistol as soon as the round starts. The range on it seems incredibly low and even up close it just doesn't have any stopping power. Have you guys had similar experiences with it? I find that even the Plasma rifle is. . . just isn't all that great, when you have a gun on your side that can drop someone in 5 shots why in the hell would use a gun that can empty its entire clip and not down the person? 
 
 Aside from the Assault Rifle and the Plasma Rifle and the Grenade Launcher (Crappy splash damage, One Shot reload, requires a direct hit to kill) I feel the rest of the weapons are pretty damn good, and the DMR is beastly when you get into the right groove. 

So do the Rifles need to be buffed? Or do some of you find these weapons useful?