A true 500 yard shot is pretty difficult in real world hunting situations. If you can find a range and be consistent from field shooting positions at hitting an elks kill zone then this leaves you with a personal choice of how far you're comfortable shooting. I would keep it to more like 250-300 yards. As far as ammo I would look to Federal Premium's with a 180 gr. Partition. The partition works well at 06 velocities out to 300 yards. As for your optics I would upgrade if you have the cash. The Vari-X II was the scope all others were graded by. That was a long time ago. There are much brighter optics out there now. I would look to the Leupold VX-III, Zeiss Conquest, or if you want to go all out look at the Swarovski's, & Zeiss that cost over $1K.