Hmm, well, my tables say this if I zero at 8 yards:
On a .177 8.44 grain pellet with a BC of 0.022 there is half an inch drop between 45 and 48 yards. At 33 to 38 yards the drop is just under half an inch too.
The flat..ish range is between 15 and 33 yards which means a rise of .55 inch at 15 yards, a peak of .8 at 23 yards and down again to .46 at 33 yards but that is still a variance of a quarter inch.
Quarter of an inch on a pigeon headshot plus a little bit of trigger pull and/or wind makes for an easy miss, even if it is at 30 yards. So I think, ranging is crucial whatever the range, whatever the calibre.
Also, with that BC in mind, I have to allow for a pellet drop of 2 inches from zero at 50 yards. That means the pellet dropped an inch in its last 5 yards which is lot of energy loss. I'd estimate that the pellet had lost a third of its energy between 45 and 50 yards.
And, if you go for a BC of say 0.014 then that last 2 inches becomes 3, so I think pellet choice is important too.
Dicky