Same here. I don't like jack-of-all-trade rifle/cartridge/combo. I've got combos to fit whatever game and area I'm going to be hunting at and some for in-between. I'm constantly coming up with new "niche" category to justify new combos.
I'm a simple guy, so to me a big game rifle is for big game, a varmint rifle's not, and that's as complicated as I want it to get. I recall reading tales of the hunter in Africa who carried a small bore rifle for small game and a big bore for dangerous, and no matter which shot he was offered he had the wrong gun in his hands. Or the German hunter who wanted to be prepared for all occasions so carried a drilling, he fired the bird shot at the buff and the solid at the Guinea Fowl.
My preference is the bolt action rifle over any other regardless of the occasion. I've tried them all, falling block, lever, hinged single shot, pumps, semi-autos and expensive double rifles, and to me the bolt action is what I am most comfortable with, regardless of the job at hand, or the country I'm hunting in. If I'm packing a rifle chambered for a moderately powerful cartridge, the moose, caribou, bear, or wolf won't know the difference if that cartridge is a little smaller or a little bigger on the scale we've discussed.
The TSX almost makes bullet choice redundant, if there was ever a "Bullets for Dummies" book written, it would be only one sentence long . . . "Use TSXs for big game!" just as 40 years ago the first edition of that book would have said, "Use Nosler Partitions for big game!" So if a hunter is armed with lets say a light weight .270 Winchester bolt gun, topped with a low power variable scope, say a 2.5-8X, with the magazine full of handloads that are topped with 130 gr TSXs, that he can shoot well over all normal hunting ranges, could any North American game be harvested better with anything faster, bigger, or more accurate? It seems unlikely.
This is not to say that specialty rigs don't have their place. The man who intends to shoot big game at nothing closer than a half mile needs more; more accuracy, more scope magnification, more velocity, and more bullet weight. The guy who enters a thick stand of willows after a wounded grizzly can certainly make the claim that he needs the power of a big bore rifle and sights with a wide field of view, that can be picked up quickly . If someone said that a .338 would be a better choice for bison than a .270, I might agree. But then I own a .375 and tend to use it as a general purpose rifle, so I might be accused of being jaded against small bore rifles.
