Crosshair Placement Beats Recoil Control
Most players grind recoil patterns and still lose fights they should win. The cheaper skill is being aimed at the right place before the fight starts.
Recoil control decides fights you are already in. Crosshair placement decides which fights you are in at all, and it is far cheaper to learn.
Three rules cover most of it. Aim where a head will appear, not where a body is: at a doorway that means the upper third of the frame, not the middle. Keep your crosshair on the nearest corner you cannot see past, because that is where a fight starts. And when you move, drag your aim along the line you are about to expose rather than swinging it after you see someone — the player who has to swing loses the first shot, and in Rust the first shot usually decides the trade.
Only then does the spray matter. Learn one gun properly instead of four badly, and learn it standing still first: pattern, then movement, then peeks. Practise in the range at the distance you actually fight at, which for most players is much closer than the distances they train.
The hardest part is not aiming, it is declining. Count your position before you commit: do you have cover behind you, do you know where their teammate is, does winning this fight get you anything. A fight you walk away from costs you nothing; a bad fight costs you the kit you spent an hour farming. Most of the improvement between a mediocre player and a good one is in fights that never happened.