I would use the 150-hrain Barnes X bullet.
I have found the 160 Hornady bullets to be quite tough and would not hesitate to use it for close range elk. Several elk have been shot with the cartridge with no complaints.
If you are a handloader have no fear about ammunition availability. You can make the brass if you need to and the Marlin rifle cycles rimless cases fine too � or at least mine handles them reasonably well.
I shoot the 375 Winchester, 307 and 356 Winchester cartridges and ammo availability have never affected my shooting.
I have several low power scopes on lever action rifles and am rather fond of the Weaver V-3, the Burris Timberline 2-7X and the Short Mag straight 4X. All of the light scopes seem to do the job quite well.
