I got to thinkin and really sat down with this idea though my imeddiate choice is the 30-30 I got pokin around on the net and read several articles and got a pretty good idea of ballistics of several calibers that I feel would also make a good short to medium range caliber. I determined that a .356 Winchester might be the best overall answer for a perfect cartridge to fit the criteria. the only downside would be finding a gun chambered for the caliber. The second choice would then be the .35 Remington