Cone of Fire

[BladeRunner]

Okay I've been thinking about this and I need some other input on it. I knew you guys would be the best to come to.

They call it a cone of fire.. Makes sense at first, but on 3rd or 4th thought, it's confusing me. I'm in beta, and I watch the circular marks going in and out, telling me how accurate I am. What confuses me is that, if indeed this is a cone, doesn't that mean that at closer ranges it should actually be more accurate than the indicators are telling?

What I mean is, let's say that you're looking at your screen while running with an assault rifle. The little indicators trace a circle that is, oh just for example, about 1.5 inches wide. So if this is the base of a cone thats tip is at the barrel of your gun, doesn't it seem logical that the cone must extend to some point, and that it is only that accuracy at the very end of the cone? Every point in between the base of the cone and tip would be a tighter accuracy.


So there are two ways that I think this could be answered in my head.

1) Yes, each gun has a cone of certain "height" for example the shotguns have a very small "height" because their indicators are true for a short range. Perhaps assault rifles' COF has more "height" and therefore even if the indicator is 1.5 inches wide while running, that's only at say, 20 meters. If the enemy is 2 meters from you, your gun will be more accurate than the indicators are saying.


OR

2) The cone's base is dynamic. That is, the indicator is true at all ranges because the "height" of the cone is defined as the distance between your barrel and whatever your crosshair is on. This would make sense too, but then it raises the question, why is it a cone at all? Wouldn't a "cylinder" of fire accomplish the same thing?


I hope this makes sense to someone who can help me out with this confusion. I thought about making some diagrams but they would probably be more confusing.