I wasn't sure about discussing guns on the Forum, but it seems as though there are a few others interested in old guns.As for "modern"it is pretty hard to go past a Remington 700 in 243 with a synthetic stock,very accurate,good all round rifle,I have a Leupold 1-4 with the Pig Plex reticle,fantastic on pigs.Back in the 70's when you could pay off a rifle,or buy a bike in a few cold nights,chasing foxes for the fur trade,a Sako or Tikka with Kahles or Pecar scope,in222 was hard to beat.17 calibres were popular,but were affected by windy nights,and I found using solids in the 222 was better .
Dad used to use a Martini Henry single shot .577/450 .45 calibre (1880s African wars era)when he was a jackaroo,before he joined the RAAF in 1943.He was pretty skinny,and because of the recoil,one day he put the stock against the dray,when he was shooting at a boar,and it slid off the dray and nearly took his shoulder off.We found some of the foil wrapped cartridges at an old gun shop,in the 70's,but stupidly didn't buy them!today they are $5 a round.Dad used to make more from the bounty on pig snouts,then his wage as a jackaroo.The 480gr lead bullet was punched out at1350fps by 85gr of Black Powder,no wonder Dad had a fear of the recoil.