Reload speed bonus is not needed at all to kill scrakes. And FP's still could be killed, given enough distance. Also, it would make no difference when dealing with SC/FP with M14. The only difference: xbow sharp couldn't kill FP at point blank range and M14 sharp wouldn't put commando to shame anymore in terms of reloading speeds.
That's the problem. M14 would remain fairly unchanged, whereas bow wouldn't be a desirable alternative in any situation anymore. Trash, husks/sirens, FPs and especially scrakes - M14/LAR would wipe the floor with bow. Again.
Then there's the thing everybody seems to be forgetting. Sharp is inferior to every single class if he doesn't score headshots. Can he be effective when he does headshots? Yeah. But I would expect him that. What's the point of using such class if his potential was low even when he succeeds? Because let's be honest: nobody has 100% HS rate in all situations, and on the other hand sharp doesn't benefit from the bodyshots somebody else might be making. Also sharp is often just as helpless as demo when a wild scrake breaks through the lines
Support, demo (yes, demo) and sharp are fairly well balanced (relatively) CURRENTLY. Support doesn't get screwed if the zeds are moving erratically, he wipes entire hallways clean with a couple of shots and deals with FP easily. Demo clears trash effectively the same as support, only at range, and pretty much rapes FPs. Neither are quite as versatile as sharp (though support comes close when properly played, mk kills trash the same as sharp at range and HSG handles scrakes, especially with a team to back you up), but seriously what does it matter in a co-op game, especially when they offset each other's weaknesses so well? Both support and demo are a lot easier to play and better at killing trash, I think that's a rather reasonable tradeoff for "being less versatile".
Then let's think about a nerfed sharp vs others. Demo does everything at range that sharp does (including husks) WHILE still being awesome at trash clearing (unlike nerf-sharp) AND at killing the most dangerous specimen in the game. Support is even closer to sharp with mk23 at long range, and don't even get me started on close range. He can also kill FPs no prob, and is a lot closer to sharp at scrake killing, even better in optimal conditions. Even firebug can kill scrakes while still being way more effective in all the other situations than sharp.
So nerfing sharp without nerfing other classes would be just mean for the poor sharp.
But even if you were to unbalance the game like that by balancing only 1 class that needs balancing, I'd say Spicy and poosh gave the better suggestions of only tweaking bow (and M99 ofc) and then increasing off-perk reloads for them