Ah, mavracer, you asked a good question. Dad was a 308 man for years, and hunted with a BAR. Finally one day he told me that the BAR was just too heavy for his aging body. Well...I was all over that, and called all my siblings (5 of us) and said that Dad needed a new rifle. They agreed, so after some research, I got him a BLR in 243 and scoped it and sighted it in so we could surprise him at Christmas. Well, about 2 weeks before Christmas I was in the truck with Dad and I asked him what he thought about the 243 caliber. He said "wouldn't own one. Too puny for the deer we hunt". OMG...I bought him a 243. Ok...back to the gunshop and they swapped out the rifles for a restock fee and I chose that Ruger Ultralight and they only had the one in 270. I scoped it and sighted it in and we gave it to him. He was happy, but didn't say much about the caliber. A couple of weeks later I called him to ask if he'd gotten a deer yet. He hadn't gotten a deer, but he had shot a coyote. He said that "Man, there were chunks of that coyote on palmetto leaves for 30 yards. I love this 270". And he was a 270 man for the next 25ish years. That said, he could have just as easily been happy with that rifle in 308 or 25-06 or whatever. With him, I don't think it was all about the caliber.
I'll clean it real good and shoot it and see what happens. Maybe I'll just leave it alone, and maybe I'll go to 260 or a 25-06. I really like the 260 caliber, so I could rebarrel Dad's rifle and then sell my 260. I've got guys lined up to buy it if I ever do decide to sell. Or heck, maybe I'll just shoot it like it is, if the accuracy is Ok. I used to check the sights for him each year, but I never shot groups with it. Darn thing kicks like a mule.