In reality it's hard to beat a .308 for an all-around rifle for anything other than large, dangerous game--which is why I always have one, and usually more than one.
Right now I have two, a Merkel K1 single-shot with really nice wood and game scenes on the receiver. The scope is in detachable mounts that take about 5 seconds to remove or replace, and the whole thing can be taken apart and put in a 30" take-down case--or even in a daypack. It weighs an ounce under 7 pounds with a Bausch & Lomb 3000 3-9x40, and shoots very well.
Took it apart and put it in a take-down case fore a trip to the Northwest Territories for caribou a few years ago, and when I got there put it back together again. The first 150-grain AccuBond landed two inches high, dead center, at 100 yards. I started to stand up from the make-shift bench, and the camp manager said, almost angrily, "One's not enough," so I sat down and put another right next to the first. When I stood up again he didn't say anything.
The other is a Ruger American that weighs 7 pounds 4 ounces with a 3-9x Burris Fullfield II, and it shoots even better than the Merkel!
Have used both for some hunting, but not enough, which is what happens when you have too damn many rifles.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
