Seems I've been doing some mythbusting lately, and theres an interesting thread on the same subject going on at arfcom right now, so I figured, here's another one.
Point Blank Range
What exactly is point blank? If you went by the media it just means something like right in fornt of you or anything kind of close. Actually point blank does have a specific meaning.
Just to be clear, technically, point blank range is literallly, the range at which normal sight adjustment, and/or maximum variation in sight alignment for a weapon will have negligible effective result on point of impact on an intended target (i.e. it will hit within the effective target area); and for which the mechanical and initial ballistic variation will have as much a weight or greater in point of impact than variation in aim, or effects caused by projectile rise or drop.
Rather technical and wordy I know. I'm also leaving out the concept of minimum point blank range and maximum point blank range.
For example, maximum point blank range on a military rifle or defensive weapon is whatever range at which the normal range of sight adjustment or alignment will produce 18 or so inches of total change of point of impact (the width of the golden triangle), and at which a line drawn paralell to the ground straight from the muzzle when fired at the center of that adjustment range, intersects the ballistic arc of the round.
Thus, minimum point blank is the range at which advanced marksmanship isn’t as much a factor as the weapon and the ammunition (of course basic marksmanship is always necessary at whatever range). It is also the minimum range to establish a useful zero.
The military considers maximum point blank range for a 20” M16 using standard military ammo to be approximately 200 yards. Point blank for pistols varies from 5-50 yards.
The term arises from french artillery of the 17th century, as an expression for the range from which a cannon could not miss it’s training target, which was a circle with a white center i.e. “pointe blanc”.
Of course none of that is very specifically descriptive unless you actually know the weapon and ammunition being used. Somehow I don't think the newsies would describe a 200 yard shot from an AR as "Point Blank".
