TLDR: Limiting its ammo cap seemed like a better solution than nerfing damage.
Yes and no. Having less than unlimited ammo creates a higher risk when attempting the shot. Other weapons/classes have this issue (flamer/crankgun/gk/priest/blunderbuss/grudgeraker) to name a few.
My response would be Does jav benefit from “+1 ammo on headshot”? If so, then there is no issue with range.
The solution, to me, is giving javs an ammo pool, (maybe 12 javs instead of its current value) so player feels comfortable taking the risk you mentioned.
Additionally, the discussion around shooting inaccessible specials with javs can be broken down even further when you look at the class specific traits elfs have to deal with ranged threats.
1- Waystalker - has a bow to auto target any threat
2- Handmaiden - problably suffers the most, but has a dash to reduce aggro and kite around LoS
3- Shade - Infiltrate to LoS/Kite/Reduce threat.
4- Sister - Thorn wall to block LoS
In short, I don’t think far away threats are an issue to Elf. You’re right they may not be able to comfortable deal with said threat. But even if they are using jav they have tools. If this is the only issue you see with limited ammo, then this weapon falls into a close quarter tool category.
Lastly, the problem (IMO) with unlimited ammo is the jav can do everything. There is no risk to using the weapon, you can just spam into everything. Limiting its ammo cap seemed like a better solution than nerfing damage.