Depends on what someone considers long range. If you’re serious for game at 800 - 1000 yds you’ll need to spend some coin. Roughly spending $3,000 on a barreled action, $700 for a stock and around $2,000 for optics at a minimum. Its fairly easy to acquire an OEM rig from Remington, Howa, Ruger, Kimber, etc., and get a MOA rifle. You can tweak it by bedding, reloads and range time. You don’t cut corners on optics and that’s where the majority of money goes.
If you acquire an OEM or have an older 7mm Rem Mag, you already have a long range rig. Even with a 9.5 or 9.25 twist barrel you can stabilize a 175 grain Berger Elite Hunter (BC .656) yielding 3,000 fps velocity and 3,500 ft-lbs at the muzzle. At 800 yards you’ll have about 34” of drift, close to 2,000 fps impact velocity and about 1,500 ft-lbs of energy. I can’t figure out why so many folks want to dump their 7 Rem Mags for a twist rate. You already have great capabilities with high BC 175 gr bullets and with that you also have 3,000 fps launch which is pretty optimal when you consider bullet weight and form/BC combined with high velocity.
Even if you never go to that distance you’ll have a great rig at 500-600 yards and it won’t cost an arm and a leg. Most factory rifles today can be fine tuned to yield 0.4” - 0.7” MOA. That would give you between 3.2” - 5.6” leeway for accuracy and hitting vital zone at 800 yds if you do your job.
It only depends on how serious and dedicated one becomes as a long range hunter. 500 yds is a very long poke on a game animal for most, 800 yds at game is for serious hunters with shooting skills. Equipment matters, however training and experience in the field matter way more IMO.
