<sarcasm>
What! I totally will not adopt tactics and strategies to counter weaknesses in the game. TFP must bring back the OP blunderbuss!
</sarcasm>
Can't believe I was able to type that up without cracking up before I finished.
The blunderbuss was actually a bit too powerful. If they had kept it along with the new pipe weapons, I would expect it would have seen a nerf for balancing purposes. If you chart the entity damage of each weapon and take into account the ammo and any offset that the weapon applies to the damage, you get the below chart (average values and Q1):
Weapon Class
T0 Damage
T1 Damage
Delta
Shotguns (pipe)
7.86
10.1
2.24
Shotguns(blunderbuss)
9.6
10.1
0.5
Pistol
25.6
32
6.4
Rifle
44
53
9
Machine Guns
30.4
36
5.6
I have been fine with the blunderbuss being removed and replaced with the pipe shotgun. Also means the ammo I find is always usable. After awhile, the blunderbuss ammo I would find was virtually worthless.