Well, the 54 action may be wasted on a sporter, looking at it like that. Also a Win 52 and a 40XB...
But people spend serious bucks on them. The Cooper is probably over engineered, but I sure like mine.
Practically speaking, just for general shooting and plinking, it would be hard to justify more than a Ruger American or the Salvage/Marlin clones. Those rifles are pretty accurate.
I don't have one, not in the market for one...
DF