Well i find them quite useful, you got your guards quite early in game, they are great counter against any light vehicle, OKWs HMG car or 221 scout car, and even in late game they are great to help out your tanks and AT guns to pin down enemy heavy tanks, I mean they are THE ONLY unit that pin down tanks! What can you ask for more.
Ha. Ha ha ha ha. (Sarcastic laughing)
Light vehicles are no bane as to be only beaten by guards. Small arms kills them, and you dont need to have a special squad just to kill light vehicles - conscripts with AT nades, or simply a ZiS will kill it faster since the Guards will most likely be setting up and being vulnerable during that time.
And some "pin". Smoke or blitz can be activated when Guards "pin" a tank. An AT nade or glorious Soviet mines that were set before hand are much better muni investments than spending a ton of munitions on a piñata that "pins" a tank.
Slapping junk equipment on a squad that spends millennia shooting at tougher targets and ends up losing all the equipment, which actually costs some, - i would think people deserve to ask for more compared to everything else priced around that much.
Another match i saw a teammate charge three Guards at a panther and they shot at each other for 30 seconds, but the panther lost 1/5th of its health and drove away while the Guards were still there, still firing their pea shooters. We lost because of his crappy investment. Would it be too much to ask for an ability for Guards to throw their PTRS into the bushes so they can contribute a bit more? I know Stavka wont like it, but its not the Guards' fault that the "best equipment" is garbage...