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Lots of good information here. I agree with TS about benefits of 308.
For your standard of 200-800, it's a fine fit. Though other calibers will also get the job done. Unfortunately when ammo get scarce, it may be easier to find 300WM or 30-06. I found this out when my brother, who had 300WM, could find all the ammo he wanted and I had to look around a lot and pay a premium for 308 match ammo.
IMO:
If you're trying to deal with dangerous predators at longer ranges(600+), you might want something with a little more energy at that range though or make sure your bullets are designed to work at that range with the MV your rifle is putting out.
Out of the box rifles, Rem 700s have lots of options to meet a variety of budgets. Light weight, easy to carry hunting rifles often are plenty accurate for 1-5 shots but when heating up the barrels during 20 round strings in competitions or practicing things may get a little frustrating.
Barrel length considerations. Dragging a 24" barrel through the brush is more of a hassle than a 16" barrel. But you also have more energy at range with the longer barrel and have less wind drift due to less time in the wind with more velocity. I have Rem 700 that I had cut to 16" and threaded with a target crown (aka, flat and square). It holds 1/2 MOA out to 800 if I do my part because shortening the barrel made it much more stiff than the original 22". The bullets drop sub sonic after that so dealing with predators past about 500 is not practical IMO.
Other Ammo considerations. Regardless of the rifle you get, you will have to figure out what factory ammo and/or the combination of reloading factors that gets you what you want/need for accuracy and terminal ballistics. Even the same model rifle off the same factory assembly line may have a different "favorite" ammo. You may find Federal Gold Metal Match ammo is great for accuracy and competition, but the bullets aren't made to open effectively for hunting. So maybe ammo specific to the application might be in order.
On Optics. What's your budget? Don't skimp on mounts. Even the best optics will not perform if your mounts are moving around, esp if you decide to go with a magnum caliber. So I love my Nightforces for my bolt guns, but they are PRICY...
With optics you most times get what you pay for, but understanding the what's under the hood can help mitigate some issues. Higher magnification will reduce light transmission and smaller tubes will also reduce light transmission. So if you're shooting at night, a bigger tube and turning the magnification down can help.
The curved surfaces of magnifying lenses diffracts light at different rates based on lens thickness and the light color(wavelength). The higher quality lenses have coatings on them to help mitigate these and have lenses that are more precisely ground for better optical clarity but are still affected. So when you want the best clarity of view, you want to be looking through the flattest portions of the lenses. That is the center of the lens. As you are attempting to get to longer ranges you typically will either be adjusting turrets or using the reticle or both. But both will have you looking through the edges (or not dead center) of the lenses and reduce the clarity and accuracy of your view to varying degrees.
Lots to think about and I'm sure there will be several recommendations on some budget minded scopes who have exp with them. I like Vortex, but I only have their binos and have only looked at their scopes at Shot so can't speak to their field work.
Good luck and remember, You can have enough guns, but NEVER TOO MANY!!
G2
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