JMHO on the matter but if I wanted to make a meaningful step down in recoil(I'll exclude the 270 from the conversation because some feel it really does not kick that much less than an 06) and still stay with what I consider to be a true all-around BG cartridge;yet still have most of what a 30/06 offers,it would have to be a 7x57 and for me there really would be no second choice.
The cartridge has a well earned reputation on several continents as a thoroughly reliable killer of BG and everything from dik-dik to elephant.I would not care to take it to those extremes but there is little doubt you could if so inclined.
If you look careful-like, you see that 140 7mm bullets are driven from the 7x57 at about the same velocities as 165 bullets from a 30/06,yet with substantially lighter powder charges,resulting in less recoil,even from lighter rifles.This correlation extends clear up and down through all bullet weights for the 30/06 and 7x57,with a 120 gr 7mm doing what a 159 gr 30 does,and 160 gr 7mm's behaving a great deal like a 30/06 180.
With todays bullet technology there is little a guy could do with a 165 30/06 that he could not do with a 140 7x57.
And if he is need of long heavy weights,he can jump to 175's for much the same work he would do with 220 gr 30/06 load.
Yes a guy could jump on down to the 6.5's and 25's but we give up bullet weight and frontal area for the same trajectory over normal game ranges;and while bullet technology helps these calibers,I don't feel the jump in performance is a quantum leap by any stretch,not enough for me to elevate a 25 cal into the realm of "all-round BG caliber" and mentioned in the same breath with the great 30/06. I feel the need to draw the line in the sand somewhere
