>>1608211Sure, I'll take a crack at that.
>practical.223. Defense, varminting, big game up to elk, cheap to shoot, accurate, extremely wide array of ammo, this caliber does almost everything. Only things it can't do are really big game at long range (elk, moose) and dangerous game (grizz, African stuff).
>non redundant12ga. Does everything the .223 can't--birds, bears, big/dangerous game inside 100m.
>aesthetic.25-20. It's like a min .30-30. Chambered in single-shot rifles, pistols, ever action rifles, and even a few boltguns. Has a lot of historically famous aesthetic rifles chambered in it.
>common.22lr, duh. Literally everywhere, and is the cheapest caliber by a huge margin (under a nickel a shot).
>personal suggestionSome dedicated LR caliber, such as 6.5x284 if you're into things like PRC, .300RUM or bigger if you're trying to kill large animals past 800m where the velocity really fucking matters on both hit probability (moving targets) and expanding your bullet (lower velocity threshold).
>>1608242>fine with .30-06>also wants a .30-06 necked down to .27cal instead of a much more versatile caliberIf anything either replace the .30-06 with .270 for the flatter trajectory and lighter recoil, or skip .270 all together to go with the ability to throw 200gr+ bullets at reasonable velocities without dealing with the issues surrounding magnums.