Why The P-51’s Machine Guns Were Limited To 400 Yards

Very Interesting!

There are a lot of factors that help a weapons system to have an effective combat range. Bullet trajectories are often affected by gravity, drift, and dispersion. However, these usually do not affect open fire ranges less than 1,200 ft.

According to data in Fighter Gunnery Army Air Forces Training Command (1st Edition,) at 500 ft. range, your aim is much more accurate than you would at 1,000 ft. So, if your fighter is equipped with wing guns, 450 ft. should be the minimum range. Meanwhile, the maximum effective range of fighter bullets should be 1,200 ft. Firing distances between 450 ft and 750 ft. are the ideal sweet spot kill zone. Between 750 to 1200 ft. is the effective zone and over 1,200 ft. (400 yards) is considered out of range since 400 yards is the limit of effective range.

Also, a review of 3,600 combat engagements were assessed and only one out of 14 planes were shot down at open firing distances between 1-2,000 ft. However, 10 out of 14 planes were shot down when pilots opened fire at a distance of less than 1,000 ft.