I love my Doctor Nope for big dumb targets that I can hit with my eyes closed. For anything else, Shadow Price or Suros are where it's at.

At first I would fully unlock the tech tree of the gun (via equip-item-on-bounty-turn-in tactic). Since I'm not really using them, I don't invest in any of their tech upgrades (beyond the first primary tech, because it only takes glimmer). This process normally gives me ~5 AE, but I could have sworn I even got 7 AE during on dismantle of a fully unlocked weapon.

Recently I just said "fuck it" to getting the last three upgrades unlocked (the ones which use AE for upgrading). So, I'd just unlock it until the last damage upgrade which uses Weapons Parts. With this process, I'm still getting ~5 AE.

I'm currently sitting at over 100 AE (it's more of a matter of farming the materials needed. I have plenty to spend it on). So I'll probably end up seeing what I get for dismantling a weapon with everything unlocked up to its 2nd primary tech, and just its primary and option techs unlocked, and just its first optional tech. If I continue to get the same AE from this, I'll probably just end up testing fewer and fewer tech tree unlocks.

TL;DR: you just need to *unlock* the weapon upgrades, you don't have to invest in them to get more AE from dismantles. And you don't have to fully unlock it (unless of course I'm remembering right about that 7 AE from a dismantle, because I've only gotten that once).

I could use it just fine before getting its Stability upgrade perk, but I think I'm rather different in taste than most folks here.

It's cranky and hard to aim at first but if you hang on for the ride, it can be a real crowd reduction tool.

So much depends on the game settings and environment. If the enemy is not flinching or you are wide open to a boss when shooting, a peek and shoot weapon would be better.

It must be really funny because everyone laughs when you use it.

That was a life changer once I learned this trick! SO. MUCH. BETTER.

What trick is this?

Equip the gun you want to upgrade right before you turn in your bounties. You never even have to use a gun to level it up all the way.

Oh, okay. Yeah, I've been doing that since the beta, but I still use weaker gear I want to upgrade during less challenging activities just to speed up the process.

That was a life changer once I learned this trick! SO. MUCH. BETTER.

What trick is this?

Equip the gun you want to upgrade right before you turn in your bounties. You never even have to use a gun to level it up all the way.

That was a life changer once I learned this trick! SO. MUCH. BETTER.

What trick is this?

But Kapowaz says that if I enable all upgrades but don't invest resources in it then I will get more ascendant energy from it when I do dispose of it.

If upgrading it is your main reason for using it, just use bounties instead to get all the upgrades. I've done this with a lot of the exotics that aren't any good before they are upgraded to their titular ability.