I limit shots at long range on game to 350 yards, 400 absolute maximum and I will only take a shot over 300 if there is no wind or up or down hill slope, just too danged many factors to consider and I don't want to cripple an animal. I don't carry a pocket anemometer, do have a 400 yard laser rangefinder. Most times if I can't get any closer than 300 yards or don't have a good shooting position, or there is more than just a slight breeze or I'm shooting down or up hill at a good angle, well, I'll try to get closer and if I spook the animal, so be it. That's what hunting is all about. But, when I shoot, I will be certain I can make the shot.
Most rifles can reach out past 250 yards for a 3" point blank range. My .308 is only about 5" low at 300. My 7 mag shoots farther/flatter and delivers more energy at range. It's not that much flatter that I'll shoot it that much farther, though. I don't feel any more comfortable making a shot at 400 with the 7 as I do with the .308, not on game, just too many variables in the field. Shooting targets off a bench is NOTHING like hunting. For one thing, there are no sighter shots in the field.
The one thing a magnum can do is deliver a lot more power at range than a lesser caliber, and on animals like moose and elk, that is not insignificant. I can HIT an elk with my .257 Roberts at 400 yards just as easily as I can with my 7 mag, but I'm delivering a LOT less energy, not enough energy that far out for an elk IMH0, to say nothing of a 117 grain 25 caliber bullet vs a 160 grain 7mm. The 7 wins that battle. The .257 would kill elk, but past 200 yards it starts to get iffy in energy dropping below 1500 ft lbs. Deer? SURE, but elk takes more.
So, rather than drop tables, I look more to match the power of the gun to the game pursued.
