To me a long shot is any shot taken at an animal in which terminal ballistics, or killing power drops enough that precision becomes vital for an ethical kill. That distance is obviously different depending on which caliber you are using, and which animal you are shooting at.
putting the bullet in the vitals is obviously always a must, but when killing power drops with range, it is even more so.
That said, when shooting in the army I am capable of putting 75% of my shots in center mass on a human torso target from 600 meters with an M4 wearing a 4X ACOG from a prone supported position. A sniper I'm not, but I am a fair shot.
If I can get a known trajectory at a similar range with the Whelen, I would feel comfortable taking a shot on any big game animal save a brown bear with it out to about 500 meters. Caribou, black bear and moose all have a much bigger vital area than a human, so I feel this would be an acceptable range for me, and the reduction to 500 meters gives me more confidence of putting the bullet where it needs to go, especially since I'll be using more than double the magnification with the Redfield.
Brown bears are much tougher, and I would place my personal limit in range at about 300 meters on them. I would want to make sure the bullet is carrying enough energy to penetrate to the vitals.
Well, if that wasn't a long-winded bunch of disorganized thoughts I don't know what is!
