Rex,
Didn't mention scopes specifically, as the article focused on cartridges and rifles. But the lead photo is of two of my favorite big game rifles, my New Ultra Light Arms .30-06, and my Merkel K-1 .308 Winchester, classic German Kipplauf (break-action single-shot). Both weigh well under 7 pounds with the 3-9x40 Fullfield II each had on it at the time.
The Merkel still does, but the .30-06 is one of my favorite test rifles for new scopes, because of its accuracy and light weight. The light weight results in enough recoil to cause problems with defective scopes, and the accuracy allows me to detect the problems. And that's why the rifle has Talley detachable steel mounts instead of the aluminum mounts--known these days as Talley Lightweights--that come with NULAs: I can detach whatever scope the .30-06 has on top of it, replace it with the test scope, and then after the testing's done put the rifle's regular scope back on the .30-06 without having to tweak the adjustments.
I had a bit of conflict in picking the Merkel from a lineup of them in the show room of Briley Manufacturing in Houston. (The also do rifle work, along with making and installing their superb chokes.) I'd been wanting (and saving for) a Kipplauf for a while, partly because I was traveling to hunt a LOT back then, and you can take the major components of a Kipplauf apart in a few seconds, just like you do a break-action shotgun. The parts will then fit in a take-down case, which is a LOT handier when traveling than the typical full-size rifle case, whether in a float plane up north or a crowded Toyota Land Cruiser in Africa.
Anyway, one of the half-dozen K-1s at Briley was a 7x57R, and I considered it too. But the .308 won, for two reasons: .308 ammo is available anywhere you can buy rifle ammunition, and 7x57R ammo isn't. That was the practical part. Second, the .308's wood had much nicer figure. That was the panache part.
