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I'm putting together some gaunts tonight.
I'de rather not make models I'll never use, but I'm thinking devourer are the way to go.

Surprise answer no. 1: It depends

Given that you have to give the little buggers guns, a lot of people go for

Option 1: Spinefists, which when combined with no other upgrades at all gives you a 5-point killing machine. Pros: REALLY cheap, actually decent firepower (Hitting on 4's, re-rolling misses, S3 AP 5 actually means a lot when there are 20+ shots). Cons: Short range means you'll only actually fire these once per game probably. Which leads to

Option 2: Devourers. You may get more shots per game with these babies, as they actually outrange the move+assault of most ground based troops, but don't let the "each gaunt gets two shots" fool you. For 160 points you get 32 Spinegaunts; for 161 points you get 23 with Devourers. Mathammer says you get 24 hits from the spinegaunts, and 23 (50% hit, 2 shots each) from the Devourers - at S2, not S3. As I said earlier though, you will - probably - get to shoot the devourers more often in any given game. On the other other hand, the Spinegaunt unit has 9 more warm bodies which is (possibly) 18 more attacks on the charge. Which leads to

Option 3: Fleshborers. Same range as Spinefists, No re-roll to hit, but S4, rerolling Wounds. Tricky. Fleshborer gaunt shooting is a strange beast. On one hand, it is the weapon most likely to actually wound MEQs. On the other hand, it can do this so well (AP5 aside), that if your shooting goes too well you end up being out of assault range. I like fleshborers, but I'd like them a whole lot more if they were range 18 or AP3 (I can dream, can't I)?

Summary: Avoid Fleshborers unless you can think of an actual use for them (may actually be really useful against T4, 5+ Armour save guys - but how many of those are there?). If you want to shoot more, take Devourers. If you want to smash face, take Spinefists.

All IMCGO, of course. (There's a new saying for the glossary! )

Viperion

Gungaunts are not good units. No matter how you build them, they will never do well for you.

The best 'choice' is spine throwaway units for cheap bodies.

You can get tons of those for dead on cheap goodness.

Else, run hormagaunts...or genestealers. Both are more effective as stealers are T4 with a 4+ save, and hormagaunts are exceptionally fast. Gungaunts just get shot dead or beat down with CC. Honest. Put the bodies together, and just leave the guns off. Test them in every way you want to. Then see if I'm foolin.

some people like a meatshield of spinegaunts in front, followed by devourergaunts - with luck, both squads will get one joint big round of shooting, and any surviving devourergaunts can make a nuisance of themselves skulking around in cover afterwards

Well I think I found a way out, I was going to make gungaunst because thats what comes in the gaunt packs (I don't know why gw like to package units I want woth units I don't)
but I have alot of sything talons left over from my stealer spue, I'm thinking I might just borrow those to make more hormagaunts.

They’re all pretty reasonable options if you they match up with your plans for the rest of your army. A lot of people swear by each of the builds and dismiss the others as complete crap, but the truth is the best unit for each player is the one that best fills a niche his army is lacking.

Spinegaunts are a great way to put warm bodies on the field. Cheap, fearless and fleet of foot, they’re as good a tarpit as anything out there. Their guns are fairly worthless, while they can fire off a lot of shots in a turn their range is poor. Shooting means you won’t be fleet of footing, and that means you’re going to get rapid fired. Your gaunts only look like cheap casualties when they’re bit hit with light fire at range, once the other guy starts rapid firing you that T3 6+ will start to appear way too expensive. Most times you’ll be best off choosing a quality enemy unit and fleeting towards it as quick as possible, then holding it in assault for the rest of the game, or until your ‘stealers get there.

With the termagaunt you’re paying an extra point for a slightly improved gun over the spinegaunt, giving you the ability to kill a few more points in GEQ and MEQ, and the chance to pop AV10 (which can be a nasty shock for your opponent). The range is as poor as spinegaunts, and you will have to expose yourself to at least one round of rapid fire (as you can’t shoot and move more than 12” into assault). They’re a little more versatile that spinegaunts, and its really up to each individual player to decide if the extra abilities are worth a point per model.

The lower strength and double shots of devgaunts are largely negligible, what you’re ultimately looking at is a higher cost unit with a greater range. The idea is to stick to cover and use the devgaunts as support fire, drawing opponents towards you as you whittle away at them from the extremes of your range, maybe moving up to take an objective late in the game. They’re a little pricey and a little too vulnerable for the role (just compare them to dire avengers), and are probably the least useful gaunt build.

Hormagaunts are a really, really expensive way to put out a couple of St 3 melee attacks. But they’re stupidly fast, and can get in and assault as quickly as anything in the game for their points. Big units can overwhelm targets with their number of attacks, but will cost a packet and still lose a lot of the time. Best used as small assault units that can tie the enemy up for a couple of turns, long enough for the ‘stealers to arrive. It’s also important to remember they’re beasts, though, and will start off the board in escalation.

I’d really recommend you play around with the different types of unit before deciding which one works best for you.

The important thing to remember about all Gaunts is that they're a tarpit unit made to die. The only shooting they should be doing is opportunity shooting. You don't field them or even manuever them with shooting in mind.

I run a mix of Spinegaunts and Termagants. Spinegaunts are great for 5 points each. I do like having some Termagants, though. Termagants get a huge boost in shooting capacity for just one more point. There WILL be times you wish you could glance that AV10 vehicle if you field nothing but Spinegaunts. And in a non-Godzilla list, being able to deny areas to light vehicles and skimmers is a useful thing. My Termagants have dropped quite a few light vehicles over the years.

I don't see any point to Devourer Gaunts. They're just too expensive compared to Spinegaunts from a fodder standpoint, and can't bring the pain like Termagants without more expensive upgrades (and even then they still can't glance vehicles).

My advice with Gaunts is always to take a strong core of Spinegaunts and blend in some Termagants just to mix things up.