After spending some time in the VR shooting range, I figured out that about 3 or 4 plasma grenades do away with any NC or TR MAX, so use them plasma grenades boys! The Rocklet secondary fire, when it empties all barrels at once is pretty hard on MAXes at short range. One of those and a couple rounds more, and they're down.
And johnnyB, you're not even in the neighbourhood of the amount of damage the Pulsar dishes out against MAXes in AP mode. I'd say, judging from my small experience that about 2-3 clips does the trick.
Furhtermore, when it comes to COF, I certainly do hope that you guys remember to fire in bursts, not full auto. Don't go out there firing full auto and complain about the cone of fire, please.