Recently, I noted a question on social media as to the “maximum effective range” of a particular type of defense handgun. Commentators quickly fragmented the issue into all kinds of fantasies about the distance at which the legal concept of self-defense was no longer available, various definitions of “practical range,” and the imagined effectiveness of various caliber-cartridge-bullet type combinations at these varied distances. We were also treated to the old sheep dip, oft-spouted, about “all self-defense cases happen closer than (fill-in-the-blank distance). “

It was gun shop nonsense writ large across the social-media-verse, everything you expect to hear at the weekend gun show held at the National Guard armory.

Dealing with the litigation/prosecution concerns first, read your state’s statutes. As to whether someone at a particular distance can present an imminent deadly threat, that’s a matter for the trier(s) of the fact (the jury, unless a bench trial.) As to “it all happens close,” consider that the opposition has a vote; it’s the offender who determines when the situation will turn deadly. There are cases, thankfully few, where those distances are long. Anyone who tells you that “if you shoot beyond (whatever) distance, you’ll have a lot to explain,” forgets to add, “if you ever use deadly force to stop an immediate deadly threat, you’ll still have a lot to explain.”

That’s life.

To address the actual issue requires definition of terms and, frankly, some guess work. Definitions are easily found, so let’s start there.

Using the Elderton modification of Claude Werner’s Baseline Evaluation, the Ruger LCP II loaded with Hornady American Gunner 90 grain XTP, was shot from 10 yards, fifteen yards and twenty yards – all staying within the 8” “8-“ ring ... long distance for a small gun?

Actual “maximum effective range” really has a meaning outside the gun shop and is well explained in a US Army Reserve video by CW2 Knote, thus: it’s the distance at which “… the average trained soldier is expected to be able to produce hits on a man-sized target 50% of the time.” (As opposed to “maximum range,” which is the longest distance at which the projectile still has lethal propensities.)

The more general definition is by the United States Department of Defense: “The maximum distance at which a weapon may be expected to be accurate and achieve the desired effect.” (Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.)

The Wikipedia entry that made this notation went on to explain that “Subjective interpretation of these variables has caused endless and heated debate for more than a century.”

No truer words have ever been expressed.

There are some factors in assessing ‘effective range’ issues. The first is the ability to visually identify an immediately lethal threat that requires shooting. If you can’t see well enough to positively identify the threat, the ‘max effective range’ issue of the firearm in question is the least of your problems. If it’s truly a self-defense issue and not a “looking for trouble” issue, you’ll move away or get behind something (Time = distance + obstacles: Dennis Tueller).

Next, what is the user’s ability to accurately fire the handgun? This has nothing to do with the “average trained soldier is expected to make hits on a man-sized target 50% of the time.” In fact, that’s a huge problem. Most non-sworn armed citizens are not ‘average trained soldiers’ – nor are most soldiers “average trained.” And let’s not leave out the police; outside of a few agencies with superb examples of personal skills training, it seems most prefer the “stand here, hit the huge silhouette x number of times” annual qualification standard.

Above, results of a Ruger LCRx 2" revolver with 2" barrel fired on a state LEOSA course which includes ten-rounds from 25 yards. Below, another LCRx, 3" 22LR on a B-C zone steel target with eight hits from fifty yards ... the "maximum effective range" for the gun?

The objective isn’t hitting a “man-sized target,” like the military, but hitting a particular spot on a dangerously aggressive opponent who’s moving in to kill you right now; we’re not shooting battle rifles nor the “frightening” sturmgewehr, but a defense handgun (a “pitiful little popgun,” as it’s been called). The accuracy standard is far more than “just anywhere on that huge B-27 target.”