I have a fully tricked out vulture which I've been bounty hunting with very successfully. Class 3 gimbaled beam weapons, 15MW reactor, 14ly jump range, shield reinforcers, etc.

My problem now is - what ship should I go for next? As far as I know the vulture is the best small-ish quick combat ship. So to upgrade, I want to move to a veritable weapons platform. Lots of mounts, the bigger the better. What would you suggest?

I'm in the federation, by the way. Ensign right now but ranking up is no big deal.

Python maybe? Or rank up in the empire and get a clipper.