Mirikon is arguing for a) system consistency (i.e. you remain consistent with the standard rules) and b) game consistency (i.e. you remain consistent with your long-term rulings as applied to your game). He argues that giving a specific Improvised Melee Weapon (because it's designed as a ranged weapon, and is not
from the beginning designed as a melee weapon) a higher Accuracy
specifically because the Player wants to do Bow-Fu is an error in judgement -- that giving a bonus or perk (1 Accuracy above the original thought)
only because of that is a bad decision. I agree with this point of view - listen to the arguments one way or the other, make an informed decision based upon the rules and how your item would best fit in. IMO, the best way to do this is to decide how you would rule it if it were in the hands of an NPC.
That said, I disagree with 3 being the appropriate Accuracy for a bow used as an improvised melee weapon; it should be a 4.
Melee weapons, those that were made for combat, have an average Accuracy of 5. Improvised weapons — items that can be used, however awkwardly, to inflict damage but are not designed for combat, such as a golf club or frying pan—usually have an accuracy of 4. Random objects used as weapons that are very unwieldy or heavy (like a chair, barstool, or refrigerator) generally have an Accuracy of 3.
IMO, a bow fits into the second category - an item that is awkward, but can be used to inflict damage, therefore ACC 4. This should be able to be improved by standard in-game methods, or an outright one-shot expensive bow that in this case
is designed from the get-go for melee combat.
Shinobi has been arguing that 'Melee Hardening' means that the bow is designed from the get-go to be a melee weapon. In this, by RAW as well as RAI (as by very strict RAW you can't apply Melee Hardening to anything but a firearm) he is wrong; melee hardening does not mean that it was designed
as a melee weapon, only that it can be used in melee combat without doing damage to the weapon's standard functionality - because being used as a melee weapon when it isn't designed for it can damage or break your gun (which will consequently lower your Accuracy by 1.)
Melee Hardening
Strongly favored by practitioners of the Gun Kata martial art and helpful for anyone who is rough on their firearms, melee hardening reinforces the firearm’s mechanical and electrical components to protect them from damage from hard impacts, such as when the firearm is used as an improvised melee weapon.
'... such as when the firearm is used as an improvised melee weapon.' This is simple reinforcement, not redesign; you're still using the weapon as an IMW.
Finally, Spooky and Marcus are arguing that a skill-rank-based bonus to the accuracy of a weapon (or the improvised melee weapon, in this case) is entirely reasonable; IMO, it is not. This is because of the simple fact that there is
so much effort that is put into increasing Limits (adept enhancements, spells, item add-ons), that unless this is applied to all skills (which is a particularly bad idea), this simply becomes a favoritism issue - not to mention makes those above-mentioned enhancements, spells, add-ons, etc. functionally useless.
Limits are part of the system's balance sculpting -- you may be great, but if you have crap tools, or your body isn't up to it, or whatever, you can only go so far unless you get really lucky, i.e. use Edge. This makes things thematically interesting - how does the gun-bunny act when they have to leave their favorite toys at home and use 'sub-standard' items, that sort of thing. Making it so that the gun-bunny makes their weapon more accurate simply because of their skill (which is what Accuracy is, after all, limiting) is self-defeating, no matter
what the point is at which the skill gains the bonus.
The solution to most of these is, simply, to have the player search for a person with an Armorer skill of 9+ who is willing to design and build for them a bow that is not only made to shoot arrows into people, but also balanced to whack trolls over the head. Done right, this becomes an interesting personal downtime project / pseudo-adventure. If you want to make it more interesting, involve the other players, you make it so that the character's Hattori Hanzo is somewhere that will require the entire team to enable the player to get face time with the fellow - in prison, in a remote location, deep in a corporation, in another country, in a wasteland, or whatever. One of my GMs had my Hattori Hanzo recently shipped off to Yomi Island, because he pissed off the wrong people by refusing to make a weapon for them, and boy wasn't
that an interesting series of adventures.
TL;DR: 4, or talk to the guys at Victorinox into making a staff-bow out of memory materials.