Even if you have 2 weapons with exactly the same min/max damage, but different speeds, the slower weapon will deal more damage per shot. This is because the AP bonus it gets will be higher, and the bonus from ammo will be higher too.

Formula is (if i'm not mistaken):

Weapon Damage + AP*WeaponSpeed/14 + AmmoDPS*WeaponSpeed = Damage

Add scope damage to Weapon Damage. Use maximum weapon damage to calculate your max dmg after AP/Ammo comes into effect.

Don't forget to adjust your result according to talents, such as Ranged Weapon Specialization in the Marksmanship tree.

This doesn't mean ofcourse that the slower weapon will deal higher dps than a fast weapon with the same min/max damage. Infact, the opposite is true. The faster weapon will deal more dps. If you look at the 2nd and 3rd parts of the formula, it basically assures that they will yield the same DPS (for autoshots) regardless of what weapon you use. Since you have 2 weapons with the same min/max damage, the faster one will deal more autoshot DPS.

This is not the case with our abilities such as Multishot, Silencing shot, Scatter Shot, Aimed Shot and Steady Shot. Those abilities have the same cooldown regardless of what weapon speed you use, so a slower weapon (with the same min/max damage) will yield more DMG per hit with them AND also more DPS with those abilities.

2 Notes:

Aimed shot cooldown is actually not the same, it is 6secs + quivered weapon speed, but no one uses aimed shot to DPS, only as an opening shot. And it will do more damage with a slower weapon.

The tooltip for Steady shot suggests that it's damage doesn't depend on weapon speed, but I have it from reliable sources that weapon speed does affect steady shot damage output.

I hope this helps :)

ya I've been noticing that alot, for say I take off a ring that does +36 attack power and put on one that has +50 it only goes up by 10 from that of the +36 one

DPS as of v2.3.2 is 79.1.