Last weekend I ran to the hills with a group of friends to do some long range shooting. We got another guy hooked on it and he will be purchasing a rifle of his own within a week or two.
The weather was still and crystal clear so we were able to push the .308 out to 1100 yards. That was a new personal record and we were making hits much easier that I normally would have expected.
This also really reinforced the fact that while high magnification is a bonus, it is not necessary to make hits. I can now better understand why a fixed 10x was chosen for some military sniper rifles for a long time. That really is all you NEED to hit a man sized target out to a grand. A few years ago I would have skeptical that a 3-9x would be adequate for shots out to that range.
Afterwards was steaks and beer. An excellent day overall.