A .240 Weatherby would be pretty sweet...

Considering that the M77 Tang Safety is a push feed with a button ejector and a claw extractor, I wouldn't waste the money to open the bolt face for WSM. Similarly, the M77 in .270win would be a long action, while the 300wsm is quite comfortable in the short action for which it was designed.

Stick with a standard .473" bolt face, 3.340" long action cartridge. Nothing wrong with a .270win at all.

I do love the 338 A-square though...

270 AI would be also sweet. But more hassel with brass and if you don't reload don't bother.

30.06 with 180 gr bullet will take care of all that. Get a 12 twist barrel. I like the Douglas 5A contour that will give you a medium weight barrel that you can set back several times if you start off with a 26" barrel. If you are planning on shooting a long time you might consider having a custom reamer made that way all your 30.06 fired cases should be interchangeable since they would be cut with same reamer.

If it was ME, I'd grab a .35 barrel & make it a 35 Whelen. While it's going to kick, it's pretty mild compared to a lot of the magnums. It does hit like the hammer of Thor within 300-350 yards! I really REALLY like the Nosler 225 gr Accubonds terminal performance & accuracy! You'll still need a good pad & brake if the 270 recoil bothers you.

24" 280 AI if you reload, does away with trimming cases, outperforms the 270 and 30/06.
RR