Probably nothing. A railgun fitted Cormorant is a good ship.
Skills do add a lot to weapon performance, Small Hybrid Turret Skill is +5% per level, Sharpshooter is another 5% per level, Rapid Firing is another 4% per level, and they all all stack up - train them to Level IV and that’s a lot of bonus. It’s not uncommon for a new pilot to skip them in favour of “want bigger ship and bigger guns” - a tempting trap that leads to disappointment with your new shiny ship.
The ammunition you are loading makes a significant difference. There is a trade off between range and damage - long range ammunition, Iron, will give you about 40% of the damage of short range ammunition. But Iron will reach out to three times the range - enabling you to kill things before they get too close to you.
The Cormorant is much more a long range sniper - the bonuses suit railguns: one of the longest range weapons in the game. Caldari ships tend to be more optimised for fighting at range rather than close in, evading damage rather than trying to soak it up. A good ship.