I started big game hunting in 1956. Even then, I was reading all I could get my hands on, hanging out at gun stores (we had alot of them in Kalifornia back then) and arguing which caliber/cartriage was better than what.
The fist choice of the knowledgable gun nut/hunters were the M70 Winchester and the 721 Remington. While there were other choices, those were the standouts. The .270 and the '06 were the top choices of the well informed rifleman/hunters. At the tender age of 12, for my very first big game season, I carried a 721 with a B&L 2.5-4X, the Balvar 4. Since it was a 30'06, my grandfather had put a muzzle break on it. Surprisingly, I could shoot it pretty well.
There were still lots of guys that had .30/30 Winchesters where I hunted. My very first big game rifle, bought at the ripe old age of 19, (1963) was a 336 Marlin, .35 Remington. But my first big game kill, in 1960, a respectable forked horn blacktail ( 6 pt. eastern count) was killed with the hot, new 740 Remington semi auto in 30'06 wearing the latest in rifle scopes, the B&L 2.5-8X Balvar8.
BTW, Elmer Keith was one of those that I followed. Of the OKH series, the .333 OKH was based on the opened up '06 case. The Belted .333 OKH was a shortened, open up, 300 H&H case. The necked up, full lenth case of their design was called the .334 OKH ( belted ?).
While cartriages haven't changed much, rifle design and rifle scopes used have changed alot. We didn't have glass bedding back then. Few bothered to free float their barrels in spite of Townsend Whelen's writings and recommendations. Light Mtn. rifles were few and far between requiring, for the most part, the services of a custom gunsmith. Stainless steel use in them was very limited and not popular.
I don't recall the Nosler Partition being availiable back then. The top bullets were the Remington Core-Loks and the Winchester Silvertips. The original Barnes pure copper jacketed bullets were available with differenct jacket thickness. They were made from copper tubing.
We have come a long way. Particularly when it comes to rifle design and the materials used to build them. Bullets are vastly better. More accurate and much deadlier.
Rifle scopes are much brighter, and, in some cases, tougher.
Binoculars have improved vastly as well. I still have my grandfather's old B&L Zephur 9X35. A favorite of Jack O'Connor for sheep hunting. All of my 8X binoculars out perform it easily. E