Oh, turns out the lv 28 Orion was actually lv 40 but the game's retarded so it shows weapons to be 12 levels lower than they should be, when equipped, because of the weapon proficiency shit. Forgot that was a thing. Dumb part is that it only does this for weapons, and not the other stuff you equip.

Makes sense the old Orion is lv 40 because I got it from the Hyperion Gift Shop eons ago and that was lv 40 at the minimum. Only noticed it because I finally got a fresh new Orion from Crawmerax and it was lv 66, then lv 54, and then I noticed that the other Orion was lv 40 in the inventory. Oops.

Haven't shot any Drifters recently but the Craw maggots go down in like 2-3 shots now, instead of a whole mag. It's so nice.