How come when I set my companion to ranged they never take advantage of the weapons I give them? They do "sometimes" but more often then not they choose their crappy basic default ranged weapon over anything I try to give them... Though do appear to very randomly equip something else

The fact of the matter is, Lily's Vertibird Sword, is ten tiems as strong as any other bumper sword you'll find.

Boone's Hunting Rifle makes the Hunting Rifle's power look heavily nerfed.

Plasma Defender for Arcade, who has an Energy Weapons skill of almost 100, is a good choice.

As for Veronica, give her a ballastic fist.

She will like that.

I've tried Veronica on a veritable armoury stash of ranged weapons, then she uses her generic 10 mm pistol on deathclaws...then complains it isn't decent enough. No wonder the BoS get her out of the house....

Well, Veronica likes using Melee or Unarmed weapons.

Which is why I suggested Ballastic Fist.