The DAM value listed for my weapons is typically higher than the supposed max value according to the http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_weapons. For instance:

Boxing Tape: 4 (wiki) vs. 7 (mine, with only 14 Unarmed)
Cowboy Repeater: 32 (wiki) vs. 38 (mine, with 90 Guns)

Is the DAM value of a weapon not equal to the "DMG per shot" on the wiki?

Damage boosting perks.

No, sorry, I should have been clearer. I have absolutely no perks that boost Unarmed damage, and increased values were shown prior to earning the Lord Death perk. (EDIT to add: Don't think I have gun boosting perks either. No Cowboy ... and I'm seeing discrepancies like these over multiple characters on Xbox...)

attributes?

(what's your S.P.E.C.I.A.L.)

Probably the damage listed at the Wiki, drawn from the GECK, assumes 100 skill but only 5 on the associated attribute. Or even 50 skill.

So higher agility will boost the Cowboy Repeater, higher strength will boost the boxing tape.

its ok u forgot to tell us u got bloody mess

Perhaps the difficulty level. At lower levels you do more damage with weapons. At higher levels you do less damage with weapons.

SPECIAL: I have EN at 1, so that can't account for doing extra damage with Boxing Tape.

Difficulty: This seemed a better guess, as I'm playing on Normal on all characters, but I just changed my difficulty to Very Hard and saw no change in the Pip Boy for Boxing Tape. Will have to check again later (when my girlfriend doesn't have dips on the TV!) with higher-damage weapons to see if it's a percentage bonus that is just too small to show up with that weapon.

What is very odd, though, is that even before I changed the difficulty, I noticed Boxing Tape was listed as doing 5 damage now – still higher than on the wiki, but lower than the last time I checked it! The only difference I can think of between my character when I wrote this earlier today and my character now is his level. Do you get a damage bonus for being on a lower level?

strength boosts unarmed damage NOT endurance.

List your perks, please.

I thought that too, but the wiki seems sure it is endurance.

I'm getting discrepancies on multiple characters, as I said, but here are the stats for one of them:

S 4
P 6
E 1
C 6
I 8
A 9
L 7

Traits: Fast Shot, Light Frame
Tag: Guns, Repair, Survival

Perks so far:

2 Rapid Reload
4 Travel Light
6 Shotgun Surgeon
8 Hand Loader
10 Animal Friend
12 Quick Draw
14 Center of Mass

Currently at Level 15.

If anybody else out there has any of the weapons in question (e.g., Boxing Tape, Cowboy Repeater, and I also noticed I was getitng more damage on 10mm Pistol), I'd be curious to hear what you are seeing on your Pip Boy.

I notice my DAM are usually lower than the Wiki's . sometimes I go a bit above though. my This Machine is 38 right now, not 35 like the wiki says.

minor discrepencies based on non standard criteria? i dont know.

Follow-up thought: Does the DAM listed for a weapon on the Pip Boy factor in likelihood of a critical hit? I notice that the characters I've seen with higher-than-expected DAM do all have Luck over 5.

The Unarmed SKILL is governed by Endurance. Strength gives a bonus to all melee/unarmed attacks' damage regardless of skill.

You may be seeing discrepancies if your current weapon is a gun with a hand load recipe as its ammo. I noticed this the other night when I was looking at my weapons damage values. I'm using a .357 Magnum and the Cowboy Repeater with .357 JFP handload ammo. If either one of those guns is my equipped weapon then hovering over another weapon shows the damage boost from my current ammo on that other weapon. If you then click on that other weapon to equip it you will see its stats return to their normal value.

I think this may have been an issue with the Cowboy Repeater, come to think of it, but it still doesn't explain why I get > 4 DAM on Boxing Tape when I have EN 1 and ST 4...

Yes it does explain why. I just checked it out. If I equip boxing tape it shows damage of 5. If I then equip my .357 with the JFP handload as it's ammo hovering over the boxing tape shows its damage as 7. My strength and endurance are both at 6.

Whoa, what? You're saying that it lists the DAM of a weapon differently based on the ammo type used in the previous weapon you had equipped? That would also explain why Boxing Tape was showing 7 for me at one point in the game and 5 at another point, if I'd been using it alongside another weapon in each instance...

I suppose it makes more sense that it would be a display bug, but I will admit that I was holding out hope that somehow my 1 EN, 4 ST wimp was some kind of secret boxing savant.

I would have guessed that you have different stats or what not then what ever they used as base for those numbers.

Or you can all read what the skills in-game say, where it clearly says both strength and endurance affect unarmed,

I found that a bit confusing. The Vita-tester says that Strength affects melee and unarmed, but afterwards the SPECIAL screen of the Pip-Boy only mentions melee.