Why is 50m most pistols' effective range?
Asked by
yaujj48 (
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February 13th, 2021
I look up in most Wikipedia pages about pistols and find their effective range is mostly 50m. I am curious why pistol work like this way, is there some mechanics on why pistol effective range is 50m?
Also apparently the C96 pistol effective range is at max 200m. How this pistol makes a huge differences with most pistols?
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2 Answers
The length of the barrel has a lot to do with it. Less pressure expended to the bullet because of the barrel’s short length. Not enough rifling to really get the bullet straightened out to fly true for a long distance. The distance between the rear sight and front sight make it very difficult to hit anything at long range because any slight variation in sighting means the bullet has a greater chance of being off target at long range.
I don’t know what a C96 is. Is it a automatic, is it a revolver? How long is the barrel? What round does it shoot?
I could probably hit a target @ 200m with my Ruger New Model single-six .22 revolver with 6” barrel if I have enough time and bullets to throw/lob at the target.
The term “effective” range refers to either stopping power for self defense, or accuracy in target shooting.
The C96 you mention is an old (pre WWI) Mauser autopistol that fired a 9mm round. It could actually shoot out beyond 200 meters, but the bullet lacked accuracy and power at that range.
What kritiper is saying is correct – There are lots of variables that effect range for both rifles and handguns.
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