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So stability is obviously important on FRs. No doubt about it. Having a tight cluster of projectiles makes it easier to get 1-shot kills.

But I wouldn't dismiss the importance of the range stat either. First of all, a FR with a high range stat is effective at distances that are squarely outside of shotgun range. That makes a big difference to the usability of the weapon. FRs with lower range stats are suddenly competing with Felwinter's Lie and other long range shotguns. In those situations, shotguns usually win. If you have a high impact FR with a great range stat, you don't even need to connect with all bolts for a 1-shot kill. So in some ways, range does indeed trump stability.

On top of that, the range stat has some kind of connection to the auto aim/bullet magnetism properties of a weapon. I don't know the exact details of it, but I find having a high range stat makes it easier to nail targets at any distance.

Well, it makes sense. What would be the point of speeding projectiles without tightening a bit to compensate leading?

The range stat does reduce the projectile spread and speed, yep. The stability does it more based on how much the bar is filled, iirc. Hopefully this will keep them in a good spot.

EDIT

If some nutjob on Reddit got the hard data on this and shows Cody is right, that the range is the primary spread reducer, I wouldn't be surprised, but it does go right in the face of what I remember.

The 2.0 Patch Notes say:

• Fusion Rifles now no longer get more accurate with each projectile fired
  
• Fusion Rifles that are slow charging, high impact now have a slightly lower base Range value, making it harder to max out range for these weapons
  
• Accuracy increased for low range Fusion Rifles; Accuracy reduced for high range Fusion Rifles
  
• Max Fusion Rifle projectile speed decreased slightly
  
• Damage done against AI combatants increased by 15%

Is Accuracy the same as Stability, or is it more the aim assist / magnetism type stuff? If it's the former then sure, you were right, but if its the latter then that would make them no different than any other gun since there's always been some hidden stats affected by Range...

The gun did 99 damage on headshots. This does all low armor guardians. NOT minimum armor guardians, just ones not running high armor builds. It does 49 on the body, 74 to the head, zoomed in.

Before:

Zoomed in:
Headshots: 3
Body shots: 4-5
1 headshot and body shot: 4

Not zoomed in:

Headshots: 2-3
Body shots: 4-5
1 headshot and body shots: 3-4.

Currently, to ensure it won't kill in two, they would need to drop the damage down to 89 or so per shot.

Now:

Not zoomed in
Headshots: 3
Body shots 4-5
1 headshot and body shots: 3-4

These numbers don't tell the full story, though. It looks like all they did was remove the two headshot capability. But, they removed the one head three body shot capability for mediumish armor builds, only putting it on guardians speccing for very low armor, which, I agree, is less common, but it does exist.

This is why I think there's almost no reason to do it.

(who runs low armor builds in PvP?). .

Just for the hell of it, I jumped into Trials a couple weekends ago with my Bladedancer (who I've barely used since TTK) and speced for max agility and recovery. My armor stat was as low as it could possibly go. I equipped Mida and a shotgun with Battlerunner. And it was AWESOME :D

I think I've got a video saved. I'll try and dig it up. Certainly made me reconsider my usual "max armor all the time" rule.

I wish I could do this for Titans. I feel like with everything you just did that a titan would go from a walk to a slow trot.