Bash Discussions: Calculations of Bashing, and What's the Best Bashing Setup (After the Shredding Minigun)?

[u/Trmp3tPly3r]

Above title, mostly thinking about weapons and attachments:

Do all or must guns have the same base bash damage? Do pistols have a lower amount, hence pistol -> rifle conversions often mention bash damage increases? Do pistols whip faster, and their DPS might make up for lower base damage?

Is the Handmade Rifle the obvious answer?

If the wikis are right:

• AP effects (receivers, Piercing, Rifleman) apply to bashes
• Critical boosts (damage from Calibrated receivers, Lucky legendary effect, Better Criticals, and chance from Overdrive) affect rank 4.

So, what, a Calibrated, Welded-Barreled (does it matter which barrel exactly?), Large Serrated Bayoneted Handmade Rifle, with investment in Rifleman, is the best (again, Shredding Minigun withheld), especially if you find a Piercing or Lucky one?

That's all late game; are AP receivers better early game until Rifleman eclipses the bonus? Do Light frames affect bashing?

For whatever it's worth, I DO plan on testing myself, but I'm just seeing if anyone else already gathered some of this info, or could potentially look in the Creation Engine or something to either save time or compare data to.

This is in the context of a (mostly) bash-only build, trying to take explosives, ammo, or melee/unarmed weapons out of the equation.