50 yds is a pair of cheap binoculars.
500 yds is difficult on a clear cool day with a very expensive spotting
scope--unless you are shooting something that makes big holes!
You can stretch the range of a spotting scope by using targets like the
shoot-n-see. Do your shooting early in the day before the mirage comes
up. Shoot with the sun behind you--makes the targets a bit easier to
see.
Actually, the cheapest way to see bullet holes at 500 yds may be a
camera/transmitter setup. They are becoming affordable.
I've got paper and steel out to 450 yds on a permanent private range.
Spotting scope is a garage sale Celestron 6" celestial telescope, with a image erecting 90° eyepiece. Stuck a piece of picatinny rail on top and a
old 4-16 rifle scope as a spotter. On a clear cool morning I can see
individual blades of grass at 450. Big, heavy, not easily portable,
but I've got less than $200 in it and it works.