I'm not sure if this is the right section for this or not, and if it isn't please move the thread. But I really wish there was a defined standard to the terms used in shooting distances. It seems like on a weekly basis I see the thread looking for advise on something to do with long range shooting, usually someone looking to upgrade optics of some sort. And to me it seems easier to be able to give advise if there was some sort of general definition to go off of when explaining what you are looking to accomplish as the gear requirements change vastly from one set of ranges to the next. IE Short range: 0-199 yards, medium range 200-499 yards, long range 500+ yards. This is just my train of though as the longer you intend to shoot the more expensive things become as parallax comes into play, wind drift, and being able to dial or hold for wind and elevation, and even the Coriolis effect if you really push your distance out. Where as most basic bdc scopes will be more then enough to get you within the kill zone out to 200 and maybe further depending on your zero. Sorry for the short rant but I personally think adding a definition guideline to shooting distances would be beneficial to everyone.

I think the definition can vary greatly depending on the country in which you hunt. It also varies depending on equipment, I think. For an open sighted .30-30, 200 yards is quite the shot. For a scoped 7mm Ultra, not so much. Target shooting is also very different than hunting, at least for me.

I agree that many questions can be phrased poorly or ambiguously, but that's also why many visit the site, particularly the unregistered lurkers: to learn and become more informed.

50-200 yards, average range
201-400 yards, medium range
401+ yards, long range (for most people)

You can't standardize anything here. As new members join, the same questions are re-asked.

I get that it will be re-asked and ignored at times, it just makes it easier to help point someone in the most beneficial direction to them the fastest.

I always go by the NRA definitions on what "long range" is, which is 600+ yards. My definition is 600 and out. Less than 600 is considered normal distances, or NRA says reduced distances. But, to some shooters who only shoot 100 yards, going to 300 yards is long range to them. This is why I ALWAYS get clarification on what each shooters perspective is.

Long Range Competition
NRA rules provide for slow fire prone competition at ranges beyond 600 yards. It is conducted at distances of 800, 900, and 1000 yards. Some of these matches permit the use of telescopic sights.

Reduced Distance
High power rifle shooting at the full regulation distances requires a range with firing lines at 200, 300 and 600 (or 500) yards.

The reason I say long range begins at 401 is because a guy could run just about any centerfire cartridge with a duplex scope to 300 yards, it's not that difficult. 400 is where we really start to have to have a better scope to correct for elevation, and we really have to incorporate proper wind holds. I ask guys that come through my training "what is the farthest distance you have hit something on purpose?" The most common answer is 300 yards.

Fireman JG I'd fine tune your definition to greater than point black range for the cartridge/target combination. For most centerfire cartridges, that's somewhere between 300 and 400 yards, for a 22 long rifle it's over 100. Of course then we need to define pointblank range. From Wikipedia "Point-blank range is any distance over which the trajectory of a given projectile fired from a given weapon remains sufficiently flat that one can strike a target by firing at it directly."

I'm not talking hitting somewhere inside a 10" diameter area. I'm talking inside 2 MOA.

4" at 200 yards
6" at 300 yards
8" at 400 yards

P.B.R. can do that, and it can also cause misses depending on equipment and experience. I'd bet $20 that more than 90% of hunters can't hit that 8" at 400 yards 90% of the time, on the first shot.

While it might be nice to have a "defined standard to the terms used in shooting distances," as you have already found, the first thing that happens is that you realize that not everyone wants to share the same standard.

As noted, everyone has their own idea of what these general terms should mean and how they want to define them and can have all sorts of equally valid reasons for doing so.

So why not just simply discuss yardages?

It is going to be a lot easier to ask a few individuals what they mean when they say they want a long range scope, short range scope, etc. than the try to educate the entire shooting community (including novices, and expect them to remember) a set of standardized terminology.



Sucker's bet, LOL.

I would bet that 90% of hunters don't hunt 400 yards or more and don't even have the dope worked out for 400 yards.