The kid and I were kicking this topic around and I said how about a 3 gun battery based on this case........258 Ruger, 358 Ruger and 458 Ruger.......So you'd have a 257 Wby ++ and then a 358 STA equivalent and a 458 Lott equavalent and if you felt a hole between the 25 and 35 you could throw in a 308 Ruger, for a 300 Wby equivalent. I am currently dealing on a 458 WM which if it works out I will make a 458 Ruger on it.
We discussed the 30 Ruger and decided if one were to do this cartridge I would design the reamer to perfectly headspace the 300 WM case, then you have the interchangability of the Lott, meaning if need be you could shoot and hunt with 300 WM ammo just fine..........a wildcat you could take anywhere in the world and hunt, and lost ammo wouldn't be the end of the hunt. A quick resight and you're back in the game with a still very respectable cartridge.
This 4 gun battery would cover all your big game hunting needs, 25, 30, 35 (could substitute the 9.3 here) and 45. Light game, deer, antelope sheep etc, with the 25....medium game like elk, moose, black bear, plains game and caribou with the 30.... bigger mean bitey things like grizzly, coastals, polar bear, lion and large plains game with the 35 (9.3).... and finally the biggest and meanest the planet has to offer with the 45.
Build them all on the new FN model 70 action (just to make you CRF boys happy) and put them in appropriate barrel lengths (my choice would be 26...25...24...22") and highly figured dense walnut........1/4 rib the 458 and get bottom metal to hold 5 rounds under, barrel band front sight and sling swivel.........Zeiss scopes across the board, magnification to suit the owner (my choices would be 2.5-10X on the 25 and 30, 1.5-6X on the 35 or 9.3 and a quick detachable 1-4X on the 458)
Opinions.........what would be your 4 caliber choice, based on this case, for the perfect battery, calibers, barrel lengths and glass?
Douglas