I will say that my arguments for higher limits will come from a position of bias as I pretty much always do long range airsoft and it's what I enjoy (my longest hit in a game was 124m, but it was basically archery from an elevated position), but with how good hop ups are now, bolt actions and DMRs are a lot less useful with their current power levels. Granted, I still use them because it's what I enjoy, but in practical airsoft terms you gain very little from using a bolt action or DMR. I've done... a lot of testing with this, because I'm a big long-range enthusiast, and I'll go into details below.
The TL
R is that hops are good, and in airsoft practicality (not range accuracy, but a "I can hit that airsofter over there" in game) a regular 1.14J gun can hit players at the same ranges as a 2.32J bolt action rifle.
I don't think we'd ever get higher limits anyway, because airsoft power limits are set by law (1.3J max full auto, 2.5J max semi/bolt action) and so we are constrained by that. The only variation tends to be on DMRs as even for me living in the black hole of airsoft sites that is Sussex, I've seen them at 1.48J (Gunman), 1.64J (Southdown/Allsorts), 1.88J (Worthing/Driver Wood) and 2.32J (Shift Your RIFT)
Now if you want to indulge in my autism, read on. If not, stop reading and save yourself before it's too late...
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I'll preface what I'm about to say by saying that I don't care if your "bolt action hits 100m easily". I've been building sniper rifles and DMRs for decades, and I know in my eyes what the effective range is for a 2.3J gun; every time someone makes what I consider an outlandish or exaggerated claim about their gun's range, I have found it to be overstated 100% of the time and usually shoot worse than my rifles. My measure for "effective range" is being capable of hitting a man-sized target at least 8/10 times, preferably 9/10 times, in ideal shooting conditions (no wind, good visibility). All of my findings are from just me spending time on the range and tinkering with different guns and different approaches, so it's all coming where the shooter has the same standards.
A well-tuned bolt action will hit a man-sized target pretty accurately at 75m with a relatively flat trajectory (a tiny little bump at the end of the shot). You'll probably be able to hit 85m as well, but that requires a bit of angling or increasing the hop up a little bit. You can hit out further, though at this point there's progressively more and more luck involved with the shot as range increases. It will involve more aggressive angling of the gun and the gun is probably moving when you rack the bolt with each shot, making it a challenge to reset to the exact same position.
A well-tuned DMR (assuming 1.88J) will hit a man-sized target pretty accurately at 70m with much the same trajectory. You'll probably be able to hit out to 75 - 80m as well with the same practices of angling or increasing hop a little bit. It's also easier to do this as it's quicker and easier to make follow up shots with a DMR and so you might be able to hit a target out to that same 85m as the bolt action as you can walk in your shots a lot easier. Again, you can hit out further, but as range increases, so does the luck element.
A well-tuned 1.14J gun will hit a man-sized target pretty accurately at ~55m with the same trajectory. You can also hit 60m pretty often too with gentle angling. However, the big difference here is that you have full-auto, and therefore the angling component of getting more range is so much easier. After all, a hit is a hit and it doesn't matter if that hit was one well placed shot, or 100 BBs sprayed at an angle. I haven't managed to hit 85m (partially because the tree canopy stopped me from that aggressive level of angling), but I have easily hit 75m with a 1.14J gun by flipping it to full auto and spraying at an angle (the target is metal and makes a delightfully audible pinging noise when hit). Is it as accurate as a bolt action rifle hitting it with 9/10 shots? No. Does that matter in airsoft gameplay terms? Not really; a hit is still a hit and that player is still going back to respawn. You also have no MED, which is nice.
Accuracy by volume is a big part of effectiveness in airsoft because of how inaccurate our guns are.
