Point-blank range

:For other uses see Point Blank (disambiguation)

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Point-blank range is the distance between a gun and a target such that it requires minimal effort in aiming it, in particular no allowance needs to be made for the effects of gravity, target movement or wind in aiming the projectile.

Related Topics:
Gun - Target - Gravity - Wind

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The term originated from a precise, but slightly different, meaning in the 18th Century. The carriage of a cannon was normally constructed so that the muzzle was elevated slightly even when the carriage was on a horizontal surface and the elevation screw turned fully down. When it was fired, the ball would travel in a parabola, initially rising above the line of sight connecting the end of the barrel with the target. The point where it rose above the line - immediately in front of the muzzle - was called the first point blank primitive. The point where it fell below it, or sometimes where it struck the ground and bounced, was the second point blank primitive. Point blank range was the distance out to the second point blank primitive.

Related Topics:
18th Century - Horizontal - Ball - Parabola

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Point blank fire was fire at a target in which the gun did not need elevating. The target would lie either within point blank range, or slightly beyond it so that it would be hit by the first bound of the ball. It was felt that artillery was at its most effective against infantry or cavalry at this point as the unpredictably bouncing ball would be hard to avoid by a mass of troops. Different types of guns had different point blank ranges; for example point blank range was out to 342 yards for a French 8 pound Gribeauval gun with a 2.25 pound gunpowder charge.

Related Topics:
Infantry - Cavalry - Yard - French - Pound - Gribeauval - Gunpowder

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Fire at targets beyond point blank range was called direct fire, and would require the gun to be elevated.

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In naval engagements, point-blank range was almost exclusively used from genesis of naval guns until the development of an effective self-propelled torpedo in the 1870s, even though the guns were actually capable of much greater ranges. Because a torpedo hit from a small vessel could sink even a large ship, the gun ranges anticipated for naval warfare opened out so that a ship would not be vulnerable to torpedo attack from its opponent. The range settled at around 6000 yards at the end of the 19th Century but during the First World War jumped to the limit of the range of the guns themselves, 15 miles or more for larger calibres.

Related Topics:
Torpedo - 1870 - 19th Century - First World War

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The need to measure and allow for the target's movement relative to the vessel carrying the gun led to much technical development in the period between about 1910 and the end of the Second World War. The most important one of these was the use of a separate organisation for aiming the guns, rather than the gunners themselves doing this using sights connected to the gun barrels. At the greater ranges the targets were no longer even visible to the gunners, crew in director towers or using radar now observing and correcting for the fall of shot. This in turn led on to further developments to perform the task in anti-aircraft fire where the ranges were nearly as great but the targets moved even more quickly.

Related Topics:
1910 - Second World War - Radar - Anti-aircraft fire

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Small arms are often sighted-in so that the sight line and bullet path are within a certain acceptable margin out to the maximum point blank range. Soldiers are instructed to fire at any target within this range by simply placing the sights on the center of mass of the enemy target. Any errors in range estimation are tactically irrelevant as a well-aimed shot will hit the torso of the enemy soldier. This sight setting is also referred to as Battle Zero.

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