Missed stag

I missed an opportunity at a nice stag today. It made me question my self imposed 250m max limit (point and shoot) I saw this guy at 500m, and managed to get into 380m before he meandered back into the bush. He was a big animal with a very large and symmetrical rack. He was conservatively at least 10points, but I think more. (If I don’t get him he’s always more!)
I had a near perfect shooting position, but my 1.5-5 Zeiss Duralyt was lacking. With practice I could probably dial to that range, but thinking I want something more straight forward. Something along the lines of a Leupold with CDS, though I do love this scope! Possibly thinking I could get a custom dial made up for the scope, and that might do it, but the 5x out to 400m is pushing it to get the bullet where I want it to go.

The rifle is a rem 788 in .308 with an 18” barrel. It likes federal blue box 150gb and puts them well under moa.
I am aware that .308 is not the best longer range round, but should be good to 400m?
I obviously would need to put some decent range time in at that range before making a shot on an animal.

Appreciate your thoughts :)

Zoom in to find the beasty in question :)

Attachment 255110

308 is capable get a scope that will do the job and practice yes you will be limited with 5x at 4-500 metres - I have the exact same rifle - damn accurate thats why its nearly always the first out of the safe for a hunt

No problem for a 308,practice with a new scope at 12x-16x.Yep he was hard to find in the photo.But now you found him amongst all that feed,he wont be going any where.

Your story resonates with me a lot. I was always a short distance shooter <250m. A lot was to do with choice of scope and shooting confidence. My cousin got me interested in looking at Swaro Z5’s with dial up system. ( these are 3.5 to 18 power)This has revolutionized my shooting and what I’m comfortable shooting out to.
I now feel 400 to 450m with the right conditions is really doable and have proven over the last 3 or 4 years that I can consistently be successful at longer ranges. Shot my PB red stag this roar at 400m using Z5 Dial up on a 25 06 rifle.
You won’t regret a decent dial up, well magnified scope. The trick is getting confident using it.

Once you acquire a dial up scope, your set up might be fine, or might not. A target at 400 or 500 yds will tell you pretty quickly.
If your rifle is not bedded, maybe a small bedding job might help to tighten groups a bit. The federal blue box is good, have used a lot of them, but when you want to stretch the distance, see if you can get a more aerodynamic bullet that your rifle will still like, like a hornady sst or sierra bullet in the 150 to 165/ 168 grain range. Of course a range finder is essential as well for those longer distance shoots.

From the pic, hes a pretty decent stag alright, good thing is, hes still there. So you will have plenty of opportunity to go back and see if you can get him. A quality dial scope would certainly have made taking him a whole lot more possible. I prefer lower powered scopes and have shot a long ways out there on 3X, but never at an animal. Quality glass, Kahles, Swaro, VX5 or 6 will always make things so much better rather than just a big zoom range.
But, quality glass is only as good as the nut behind the butt, shooting out further requires lots of practice. And familiarity with your gear. Good wind calls are essential. I would suggest coming along to the Hunters Challenge and trying a few different scopes in realistic conditions.

With the appropriate scope shooting to 400m is a doddle...when the wind is dead calm. Throw in some wind and then you'll wish you practiced alot more.
Make sure your practice is in the wind using your hunting setup and preferably shooting across a gully or steep terrain.
Practice in easy Rifle range conditions is good for gear setup but will over-inflate your perceived ability.

Hes a good stag alright.prob a good decision to not take the shot with the .308 shooting rainbows at that range if your not experienced with the longer shots,if ya wounded him imagine the downer you'd be on.Hopefully you get back in there and have an update for us all soon.

on closer inspection he is a really good stag!

Once you've found yr dial up moa for 400yds =7-8moa?.A cardboard box with no wind would be easy to hit with practice.I use 308 Hornady Hiperformace 165 gr ssts for distance.Got plenty of energy out to 500yds on big deer.

Go and shoot some wallabies with current set up. You have much younger eyes than me but a stag is a big animal,five power is enough to place chair on backbone or just above to allow projectile to drop through shoulders. Wallaby shooting will give you confidence you can do it cleanly. Or to put it another way.had we been using .308 with five power scope yesterday instead of .223 with light projectiles and 9x our kill rate would've been much higher.

I disagree a bit with @Micky Duck. A higher magnification will give you a far more precise aiming point. At 4-500m you don't want to hold over and hope for the best. Also projectile choice probably needs to change as well. Try a heavier bullet for longer ranges. I'm using 165g TGK out of my 18in 308 and I am comfortable to 500m. Projectile has a little over 1000ft/lbs at 500m, your 150g will have significantly less.

308win with the right ammo is more than enough I have snotted reds with 168gn ELDM's at those kind of ranges my current load is 165gn BTSP which I am also confident will do the job.
You don't need massive magnification to shoot red deer at 400y but a good 3-9 or 2-12 will give you confidence on shot placement over a 1-5 at that range.
Some people can shoot at 4-500 yards no worries with a low power scope, personally I would want a little more, my 308win currently wears a 2-16x50 Element HDLR its a bit of a hefty beast, but it does everything i want it to. I had a 2-12 on it prior to that and that also was more than adequate out to 400+yards for red deer sized targets.
for the record my furthest kill on a red with my 308win is 470 yards 1 shot, did a wobbly dance on the spot and tipped over dead as a dead thing.

Thus WHY I said go shoot some wallabies with current set up. Try it for yourself either it will work for you or it won't. If the 1_5x suits 99% of your hunting and you can make it work for the other 1% why put up with bigger heavier scope the sucks more at bottom end?to each their own.