Yes they doubled the damage output of shotguns in pve, but unless they quadrupled the range it's still not worth using. Maybe if I was doing something where there is a shit ton of thralls, and my shotgun had the perk to regen ammo with kills, but I still find the icebreaker great for the first part of crotas end. Regens bullets, explodes thralls, and gives you +2 agility = beast