This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Noaqiyeum: Okay, I know practically nothing about guns, but my l33t dimensional analysis skills tell me that 2000 yards isn't even close to two miles (slightly over one mile, in fact), leading me to call the rest of the objection to Tabula Rasa into question. Does someone else know more about this?
MODULE-32A: That was probably a simple error; confusing miles and kilometers would be my guess. (Why the hell can't the US metricate, huh!?) They mentioned .50 caliber sniper/anti-material rifles as a specific example; those do have a very long range. I think the longest-ranged sniper kill in history, by some Canadian (Princess Patricia's Light Infantry or something like that) in Afghanistan in 2002, was at 1700 meters or so, slightly more than a mile, which is 1609.344 meters. Checking TOW, the actual range was even more than that: this Canadian blew a big hole in some Afghan fighter at 2430 meters. Even something like the M1911 (the famous .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol) has an effective range of 62 meters, according to TOW. And apparently most infantry engagements are fought at ranges of 300 meters or so, tops. So, the characterizations this trope entry makes, especially the ones contrasting fictional treatments with reality, are pretty accurate.
- Narvi: Cut this Berserk example:
"Guts from Berserk has an Arm Cannon that he seems to like to use only at point-blank range, and he only uses his crossbow at really short ranges at well (often less than twenty feet)."
- Because the cannon has a kick which tends to stun him for a few seconds, so he uses it only when he knows he won't miss, and anyway, it's a really short medieval cannon, so it's effective range is probably abysmal. Guts does use the crossbow at really close ranges, but in every situation he has been in it has been justified; he's a close range fighter, and he only uses his crossbow to whittle down the mooks, and he's never been shown in a situation where calmly sniping would have been the good choice.
