diff --git a/benchmarks/src/jmh/java/build/buf/protovalidate/benchmarks/ValidationBenchmark.java b/benchmarks/src/jmh/java/build/buf/protovalidate/benchmarks/ValidationBenchmark.java
index d058b20b..85608a45 100644
--- a/benchmarks/src/jmh/java/build/buf/protovalidate/benchmarks/ValidationBenchmark.java
+++ b/benchmarks/src/jmh/java/build/buf/protovalidate/benchmarks/ValidationBenchmark.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import build.buf.protovalidate.Validator;
 import build.buf.protovalidate.ValidatorFactory;
 import build.buf.protovalidate.benchmarks.gen.ManyUnruledFieldsMessage;
+import build.buf.protovalidate.benchmarks.gen.NumericRangeMessage;
 import build.buf.protovalidate.benchmarks.gen.RegexPatternMessage;
 import build.buf.protovalidate.benchmarks.gen.RepeatedRuleMessage;
 import build.buf.protovalidate.benchmarks.gen.SimpleStringMessage;
@@ -42,6 +43,7 @@ public class ValidationBenchmark {
   private ManyUnruledFieldsMessage manyUnruled;
   private RepeatedRuleMessage repeatedRule;
   private RegexPatternMessage regexPattern;
+  private NumericRangeMessage numericRange;
 
   @Setup
   public void setup() throws ValidationException {
@@ -71,11 +73,18 @@ public void setup() throws ValidationException {
 
     regexPattern = RegexPatternMessage.newBuilder().setName("Alice Example").build();
 
+    NumericRangeMessage.Builder numericRangeBuilder = NumericRangeMessage.newBuilder();
+    for (FieldDescriptor fd : NumericRangeMessage.getDescriptor().getFields()) {
+      numericRangeBuilder.setField(fd, 1.0f);
+    }
+    numericRange = numericRangeBuilder.build();
+
     // Warm evaluator cache for steady-state benchmarks.
     validator.validate(simple);
     validator.validate(manyUnruled);
     validator.validate(repeatedRule);
     validator.validate(regexPattern);
+    validator.validate(numericRange);
   }
 
   // Steady-state validate() benchmarks. These exercise the hot path after the
@@ -100,4 +109,9 @@ public void validateRepeatedRule(Blackhole bh) throws ValidationException {
   public void validateRegexPattern(Blackhole bh) throws ValidationException {
     bh.consume(validator.validate(regexPattern));
   }
+
+  @Benchmark
+  public void validateNumericRange(Blackhole bh) throws ValidationException {
+    bh.consume(validator.validate(numericRange));
+  }
 }
diff --git a/benchmarks/src/jmh/proto/bench/v1/bench.proto b/benchmarks/src/jmh/proto/bench/v1/bench.proto
index d6fde070..dc1b6617 100644
--- a/benchmarks/src/jmh/proto/bench/v1/bench.proto
+++ b/benchmarks/src/jmh/proto/bench/v1/bench.proto
@@ -79,3 +79,32 @@ message RegexPatternMessage {
     max_bytes: 256
   }];
 }
+
+// Twenty float fields, each with only `gt` set. The standard float.gt rule
+// expands into five CEL programs (gt, gt_lt, gt_lt_exclusive, gt_lte,
+// gt_lte_exclusive); when neither `lt` nor `lte` is set, four of those
+// short-circuit to the empty string using only the bound `rules` variable.
+// Targets the residual-reduction skip in RuleCache: those four programs
+// can be eliminated at compile time so they never run during validate().
+message NumericRangeMessage {
+  float f01 = 1 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f02 = 2 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f03 = 3 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f04 = 4 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f05 = 5 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f06 = 6 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f07 = 7 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f08 = 8 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f09 = 9 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f10 = 10 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f11 = 11 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f12 = 12 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f13 = 13 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f14 = 14 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f15 = 15 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f16 = 16 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f17 = 17 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f18 = 18 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f19 = 19 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+  float f20 = 20 [(buf.validate.field).float.gt = 0];
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/build/buf/protovalidate/RuleCache.java b/src/main/java/build/buf/protovalidate/RuleCache.java
index 9e6962bf..1e7d6610 100644
--- a/src/main/java/build/buf/protovalidate/RuleCache.java
+++ b/src/main/java/build/buf/protovalidate/RuleCache.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 import dev.cel.common.types.StructTypeReference;
 import dev.cel.runtime.CelEvaluationException;
 import dev.cel.runtime.CelRuntime.Program;
+import dev.cel.runtime.CelVariableResolver;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -123,17 +124,41 @@ List<CompiledProgram> compile(
     List<CompiledProgram> programs = new ArrayList<>();
     for (CelRule rule : completeProgramList) {
       Object fieldValue = message.getField(rule.field);
+      CelVariableResolver ruleResolver =
+          Variable.newRuleVariable(message, ProtoAdapter.toCel(rule.field, fieldValue));
+      if (isTautological(rule.program, ruleResolver)) {
+        continue;
+      }
       programs.add(
           new CompiledProgram(
               rule.program,
               rule.astExpression.source,
               rule.rulePath,
               new ObjectValue(rule.field, fieldValue),
-              Variable.newRuleVariable(message, ProtoAdapter.toCel(rule.field, fieldValue))));
+              ruleResolver));
     }
     return Collections.unmodifiableList(programs);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Evaluates the program with only rules/rule bound. If it resolves to true or "", the expression
+   * is tautological and can be eliminated (mirrors protovalidate-go's ReduceResiduals).
+   */
+  private static boolean isTautological(Program program, CelVariableResolver ruleResolver) {
+    try {
+      Object result = program.eval(ruleResolver);
+      if (result instanceof Boolean) {
+        return (Boolean) result;
+      }
+      if (result instanceof String) {
+        return ((String) result).isEmpty();
+      }
+    } catch (CelEvaluationException e) {
+      // Expression depends on unbound variables (this, now) — not tautological.
+    }
+    return false;
+  }
+
   private @Nullable List<CelRule> compileRule(
       FieldDescriptor fieldDescriptor,
       boolean forItems,