Hitting man sized targets at moderately long ranges is not that difficult. Our gun club had a thousand yard range and hitting a metal gong at 300yds.
I noticed my Nephew who is not a particularly good shot could hit it regularly using an old but accurate 1909 Argentine Mauser. The fact that the sights were dead on at that range probably made a difference.
Now a thousand yards is an entirely different thing mainly because of the difficulty in judging hold over. The sights had a thousand meter slot but it was not quite on.
Back in 1976 I was lucky enough to buy a 1909 Argentine in like new condition.It’s one of the most accurate military issue rifles I’ve ever shot.The absolute best military rifle I’ve shot is a 1986 Swedish mauser sniper with a receiver date of 1900.That old gun wil give my Remington 700 heavy barrel .306 a run for it’s money.