It may be an odd ball, but I am impressed with my MAS49/56 and its 7.5×54 cartridge. One of the great tilting bolt actions. Too powerful for at the house, so there my goto weapon is my M1Carbine with its 30rd clip.
@Elderberry One word. "Shotgun". Number 9 quail loads are just fine because at "house" distances the shot is never going to leave the shot cup to start with. You will be shooting what amounts to a slug.
As for his rant against the M-16 series goes,MY big gripe with it was the caliber,not the rifle. I carried one for 16 months in VN,and the only time it ever failed to fire and function for me was when me and 5 or 6 other guys were set up along the Ho Chi Mihn Trail looking to snatch a prisoner or two,and as (bad) luck would have it,a NVA company-sized unit decided to stop for noon chow right in front of where we were. One of the NVA decided to walk off the trail to take a dump and stepped on one of our guys,so it was "game ON!" as we tried to "shoot and scoot". I was the last man to leave the ambush site,and my bolt slammed forward on a reload,and I heard this REALLY loud "thunk" sound instead of a "bang" sound when I pulled the trigger.
Which was a lucky thing for me because I was so excited at seeing so many of the bastards bunched up in the open that I was so busy firing at them that I had forgotten all about the "running away" part,and when I looked around,I was the only one there not wearing a NVA uniform. You have never seen anybody run so fast up a hill in the jungle in your whole life. I may have taken down a few small trees that were in my way,but I eventually caught up with the rest of the team.
Come to find out,it didn't misfire. It didn't fire because I was so excited I had slammed a full magazine. in it backwards or upside down. Don't remember which at this late date.
The secret to "running" those things were to run them dry. No oil or grease to gum up or get loaded with grit.