A 250 Savage would give you a great varmint/deer/ elk with (proper bullets) plus cases are available, low recoil, flat trajectory,good bullet choices,smaller case diameter (makes chamber metal stronger since you are using 7/8 diameter threads)excellent history for killing power beyond ballistics, plus it is a neat looking cartridge!Before I get blasted by suggesting a 250 Savage for elk ... check out what a lot of the old timers used and their success stories.
The 223 family of cartridges would be nice as well but they would lose some of the capability choices for hunting the larger critters.
The 30-30 and its siblings would be neat too hmm.. 7-30 Ack/ Waters with pointed bullets.
So many choices that you may have to make more monoblocks
Good luck with your project!
George