I’d like to mess around with some of the older calibres.
Maybe in an over & under, fixed magnification scope, no range finder, deer antler shooting stick, lots of tweed etc.
Plus one!
In fact in time i, in landscapes which allows for it, pretty much hope to hunt using pirmarily only iron sights, with a vintage 1.5-4x24 scope in a claw mount deatched, but put on and used only as an exception.
That sort of hunting does naturally require the right sort of hunting ground, plus of course getting pretty good skillwise at both stalking quite close and shooting this way.
A Stutzen chambered in 7x57 is my intended rifle for this, but again i need to build up the skills first, of course.
And
looping all of that back to the subject of this thread, then yep,
the 7x57 might be my answer.
The little old 7 seems to have a decent amount of powder for its caliber, a bit more than the 308 family and about 10 % less than 06 one, and it is known for an excellent ability to shoot everything from quite light bullets to for caliber quite heavy ones , (given the typical twist rates of its barrels, long neck of the cartridge and typical long throats), which should make it good for non leads too, ie fairly future proof.
Furthermore it's a classic, and if you reload there is a vast array of bullet available to chose from too + , as i'm finding out myself currently, it is supposedly a non fuzzy catridge to load for.
Lastly It is supposedly is also a decent option for shortish barrel, whilst being known for having good terminal effect and it should be ok for boar and red in the countries than want a 277 cal min for that sort of prey.
So if one mainly intends to hunt stuff smaller than big african game or big bears, and especially if ones reloads, that would get my vote. Alternatively the 7x64 or 65R would get it. Especially if i was hunting more in the mountains or very open plains, and was expecting longer shofts often.
