Hopscotch is better. Here's why: 1). It has tighter groupings of the 3 round bursts. This means it is better at range, and is better for ensuring all 3 of bullets are head-dingers. This is undisputed, and is fact. No amount of stability can make up entirely for the innate grouping patterns of pulse rifles. If you don't believe me, try your Spare Change .25 with completely maxed stability and fire it at a wall. Notice that it pulls up and to the left and kind of sprays bullets after multiple shots, regardless of how much stability it has. Compare this to Messenger, and compare that to Hopscotch. Before you say "but Messenger has better range stat", I will stop you there. The range stay in this game does not do what it says it does. I present to you TLW. If you look at its range stat, you will realize it is very low. The gun has the capability to 2-shot people across the map though, with very little damage falloff. The application for this in our conversation is that the maps are too small to notice any real damage drop off in any guns that aren't FR, Shotguns, or ARs. 2). Hopscotch is re-rollable. Seasoned pvp players don't need Third Eye, so it's kind of a wasted perk unless you sit there camping like a scrub aiming down your ADS the whole match. Headseeker is good, but the point is there are better perk combinations. You can roll it identical to a Messenger and it will still be better because of the bullet grouping patterns. You can get Feeding Frenzy (or Outlaw) matched with Reactive Reload for 2-shot body shots after kill. Or you can get things like Battle Runner (highly underrated) for more utility. 3). Hopscotch has better overall stats. Aside from range (which we already know isn't a big deal), Hopscotch is equal to or better than Messenger in every category. Hopscotch has equal impact and ROF. It has better: Stability, Magazine Size, Reload Speed, Aim Assist, and tighter bullet groupings. Tl;dr Hopscotch is better in every meaningful statistical category, and has much more utility because you can re-roll it. This is fact; there are numerous videos from PlanetDestiny, multiple threads on Reddit from people that actually statistically analyze these weapons. Read/watch these resources if you need more information.