Last night I trialed baracuda

Im level 32 right now. I'm planning next years fair haul out, and I'm certainly going for a barracuda. So i thought i better trial it all i can to get used to it. Well i have a darkstalker equiped and even then i was hitting headshot after headshot and only getting about 1250 damage. It wasn't for lack of accuracy. So I was confused. Is barracuda incredibly weak until it is maxed out? I know a trial is suppose to give you the max power for your level right? I run into people at level 36 or 38 and they are absolutely one shot killing me. The only thing I can think of is some people are wearing a ballistic mask... does it really lower head shot damage that much? Or is this a level issue? ​