While your rifle may well be capable of long ranges, you're leaving a couple of important votes out: 1) The game, and 2) The terrain.

Arguably (a topic for another thread) my most often-used big game rifle has always been a Remington M700 BDL, .30-06, topped by a 4-12x Bushnell that's worked in spite of everything I've thrown at it from prairie dogs to moose, from Nebraska to Alaska.

Not everything's going to live out in a beanfield, the tundra,or above timberline where your field of view is unobstructed and nearlimitless. I've found, nearly without exception, that the majority of the public land I hunt elk on in Wyoming does not lend itself well to "long" shots. Typically, my shots have been less than 75 yards, and quite commonly, in "middling" to "thick" timber. There, I find even the 4x low range on the Bushnell unacceptable. I don't need to be looking at the pine beetles crawling on the treeswhen I'm frantically trying to find the elk I just saw in the reticle.

So, I've been saved on a number of occasions by the mere fact that I also brought along a "backup" rifle (more, a "backup scope" mounted on another rifle) -a 1.5-5x Leupold Vari-X III has performed yeoman's service in that capacity. 1.5x is nearly perfect (the only thing better might be a peep sight) for the timber, and 5x is still fine for the occasional "meadow" shot.

The 1.5-5x is mounted on a heavy, M700 .375. It's a pig to tote in the woods, but felt recoil isn't near what one might imagine. I can't say that for my friends' lightweight Weatherbys and Rugers in .340 and .338. They slap you like the hammer of Thor. For that reason alone, you need a scope that will stand up to someabuse.

The ONLY situations I've every found myself POSSIBLY able to take advantage of "long range" shooting have been huntingspeedgoats in WY and hunting caribou in Alaska. Neither of those species require something as heavy as a .338, though.Otherwise, the terrain andcover preferred by the game has limited my shooting to about 150yards at the most inColorado, Alaska, and Wyoming on deer, elk, and moose.