MasochisticMuse said:
There's nothing wrong with your stats, you're just at a part of the game where the creatures are still challenging. Trust me, in a couple more levels (and once you've stolen enough supplies) you'll turn into an untouchable superbeast and just breeze through the rest of the game.
Hunting rifles are kind of lame IMO, but you get a lot of ammo for them early on so I assume that's why you're using them. If you can get headshots outside of VATS it'll serve you well, but if you're getting torso shots then that pause between shots will get pretty obnoxious.
My tips; get yourself a house in Megaton, steal everything in sight even if you're going for positive karma, and complete Three Dog's quest by installing the dish rather than passing the speech check, because Galaxy News Radio is just so damn charming.
Edit: And once you get to Rivet City, make sure you get A3-21's plasma rifle. It'll be your best friend for a good portion of the game.
I would agree that A3-21's plasma rifle is excellent, but IMHO the Hunting Rifle is awesome.
Most of my level 20ish characters generally wind up using the humble Hunting Rifle for most of the game. Plentiful ammo, accurate (Headshots are so fricking easy with it), and it has fearsome damage once you're Small Arms is high enough.
When you are running through the wasteland dealing with random spawns every few hundred metres, the hunting rifle comes into it's own from an ammunition and weight perspective.