My personal opinion on the matter :
Hunting is about bullet construction, downrange energy and ethical conduct.
Will the bullet hold together reliably at impact velocity, and is the retained energy at hunting range sufficient for a quick kill if placed correctly. That is all.
The hunting rifle itself is important only in that the platform needs to perform reliably.
There is a mis-perception commonly known as long range hunting. There is no such thing as long range hunting. There is only hunting, for which you need to make sure of three things
can you reliably place a kill shot at that distance
will your bullet retain enough energy to make a quick kill if placed correctly
can you reliably find the animal for a follow-up shot if you wound it
When the hunter honestly appraises those three points and acts accordingly, most hunting takes place within 200 yards.
There are numerous hunting exploits, documented and recorded on video and publically available that show shots on game taken at long range. This is unethical hunting practice. Even if you can reliably head-shot deer at one mile, you should not. That is not hunting.
When the range is ridiculously long, the time it will take to get to the point at which the animal was wounded to begin the follow-up means a lost animal. Leaving an animal that you wounded to die a lingering death because you are careless and indifferent, is not hunting.
When the range is ridiculously long, the retained energy of the bullet may not be sufficient to make a kill, even if placed correctly. A hunter's sole purpose is to make a clean kill. Hoping for a kill at long range is just using live animals for target practice. A hunter does not do that.
