The Trusty .280 Ackley
For many years I have hunted with my trusty .280 Ackley Improved. There are many reasons that I love this cartridge. It has manageable recoil, especially with a muzzle brake, that can be easily formed from a factory .280 Rem cartridge- so they can shoot both. Its performance is almost as good as a 7 Rem Mag, but with lower recoil, less powder, all in a non-belted case. It also uses a 7mm projectile which I find excellent, as it has a very wide range of bullet weights, has high ballistic coefficients with a wide variety quality bullets. I’ve found the quality 7mm cartridge to have devastating terminal performance when at a proper velocity. Below is a great article from Journal of Mountain Hunting:
https://journalofmountainhunting.com/280-ai-my-my-my-by-ron-spomer/?mc_cid=92c7e50bee&mc_eid=72fc7b45f0