All my bolt-action centerfires wear 2.5-8, 3-9, 3.5-10, or 3-12 scopes, and nearly all of them get shot at 300 and/or 400yd steel. Many people think they need a 20x scope for those ranges until they shoot my life-size pig silhouette at 300yds with a typical 3-9 scope. It's no thing to wear out the headshot area with a reasonably accurate rifle and decent drop dope or a BDC-style reticle. If using a load that's sub 2,900fps, it's simple to dial down 10-20% from the top magnification and have your BDC dope jive with the slower load with most 2nd focal plane hunting scopes. I've seen 7mm-08/.308 carbines run great with a 3-9 BDC like Leupold's when dialing down from a 9-10x max to a 6 or 7x setting. Even though you give up a bit of magnification, you have a more precise aiming point for 300yds than trying to estimate 7-9" of drop from a 200yd zero, but you can always just hold the drop dope with the crosshair if you like.
