MK1 Braton - Any reason to keep this?

[Volume]

Hi, relatively new player here - just wondering, any reason to keep the MK1 Braton? I have a few other weapons, including the actual "Braton" which is unequivocally better. Suppose I need the weapon slot for something else - I should just sell this, right? Most of the other weapons are interchangeable, or sidegrades, or a question of personal preference, but it seems that the MK1 Braton is simply designed to be inferior.

My understanding is that there is no reason to use it over the Braton, and I don't know what else to do with it other than sell it. Is there something else? Smelting it down into crafting gear, or somehow using it to upgrade something, or is it just meant to be thrown away? If so, is there a way I can "transfer" the experience off of it?

If not, it's no big deal, I just wasn't sure.

If it's mean to be useless when compared to the Braton, I can understand why. I used it for all of Mercury and a decent portion of Saturn/Venus, and was still successful, so it served its purpose. If new players started with a weapon as strong as the Braton, it would make all of those levels even easier, which would mean that they would need to be retuned for a mild challenge (yet still be tutorial-like).

Anyways, just let me know what I should do with this weapon. I suppose it's served its purpose, but... It just feels kind of sad, getting kind of attached to it, and then just replacing it. Maybe it should be a 7.5k "upgrade" to turn your MK1 into a standard one (the 10k cost and the 2.5k sell value), just so it doesn't feel like I'm throwing away a tool that loyally protected me in times of danger ._.

[Ced23Ric]

As every rank in an item (frame, long gun, pistol, melee) gives you Mastery Points, even the Mk.1 Braton gives you up to 3,000 Mastery. If you rather level up a different weapon and cannot spare the slot, just can it. You will also lose all Mastery in it, though. Other than that, it has no further use.