I know what you mean with the long range part. That's why no one uses the high zoom scopes on snipers. Because there is no long range. Thorn was bad before because of its non damage stats. The mag size and reload were bad and stability and fire rate are lower. Now you can just rapidly fire two rounds pretty effortlessly into the enemy's head for a kill. I had it back in the beginning of the game as well, and the those bad stats are what turned people away from it.