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The BB's trajectory between the effective range and the maximum range is *random*, and therefore unpredictable.
Anyone can aim the gun a bit higher to make the BB go further, and it will go further.
But not everyone can aim the gun higher and actually hit something, that's an issue of skill, but the fact that the gun *can* hit someone is not changed by the fact the shooter isn't compensating for variables.
Effective range is a matter of the gun's grouping. It's ability to hit the same spot consistently.
Point of aim is personal skill, where you'd be compensating for weather variables.
Max range, obviously how far the BBs are going.
There's actually a simple test for determining your optimal BB weight I came up with years ago, and it really helps show how effective range and max range differ.
Works on all guns, and it's actually more visible on an upgraded gun.
If you shoot light BBs like .20s, you'll notice at the end of their effective range they will veer off into random directions. The trajectory flays at the end. This is due to the BB running out of momentum; both forward and in spin, so the spin destabilizes, the slower the BB goes the more the magnus effect takes hold, and it flies off randomly.
So if you go from a .20 to a .28, you'll notice the BB goes much further, much straighter, and flays much further down the ways. It has significantly more effective range, but maybe it's still flaying out at near the end, not by much, but enough that your spread is larger than a person.
Now we've established that heavier BBs will decrease your grouping, thereby getting your effective range closer to your maximum range, because they carry their momentum further (heavier objects lose momentum less quickly than lighter ones).
So we just keep raising the weight until that grouping is tight enough.
But we can't just go to .43s right off the bat. First off, it's pretty expensive to be going through a bag of .43s in an AEG every game. Second, there's a bisecting curve of losing range vs gaining accuracy.
You will always get better accuracy, but there's a point where your gun simply isn't putting enough energy in the BB for it to maintain lift over a large range. So you'll be dropping .43s into a shot glass at 200ft, but that's your max range.
So you find the happy medium, like .32s, where you can consistently hit 1-2ft groupings at your max range. And that's the *gun* hitting that grouping, not the shooter.
So now the gun's effective range is equal to it's maximum range. Hitting people at that range is a matter of personal skill, but the fact the gun *can* hit someone at that range is inconsequential to their inability to aim.
The best example of personal effective range versus the gun's effective range is with pistols, actually.
I know a ton of airsofters just naturally assume pistols are not accurate. But it's because people tend to suck at aiming pistols. It's very short, it has little support in your hands, and it moves a LOT.
But in bracing my pistol, I can easily get a 4" grouping at 160ft.
Pistols can be VERY accurate, but people tend to suck at shooting them.
I apologize for writing a novel lol
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