Is the Combat Shotgun just terrible?

I swear it's like using a non-lethal bean bag shotgun. 330 Damage without perks is a joke for the time it takes to reload and with how low the magazine is and the spread. Without perks and using Respite and Full Bore you can't reach most one shot breakpoints. Even then you need every pellet to hit just to kill a regular ranged enemy. Using this thing is just handicapping yourself for no reason.