I've owned a lot of rifles, bolt, lever and semi, in a good range of calibers. There are two rifles that stand out as clear favorites in my years of experience: 7mm Rem Mag and the 300 Weatherby Mag. These are the flattest shooting rifles I've fired under field conditions. The 7mm will drop almost everything in North America (though I'd not intentionally take it for big bears) and I've taken whitetail at over 500 meters with it. The .300 wmag will kill anything pretty much worldwide, though I'd shy from intentionally hunting cape or elephant with it. However, it's a bit overpowered for much of North American game, unless your shooting extreme ranges. I'd recommend it for mule deer up to Kodak. With those two rifles, you're pretty much covered for everything from varmint to big, dangerous game (with the caveats mentioned above). The weatherby rounds are steeply priced, but the 7mm Rem Mag rounds can be had fairly reasonably. If you reload, the 7mm isn't expensive at all, and a great all-around caliber. Incidentally, I noticed a lot of folk speaking up for the .270. The 7mm is actually a .284 caliber with a magnum belted brass backing it, with many of characteristics of the .270, only a hotter and slightly flatter trajectory, with a bit more lead.