x39mm
A light handy bolt rifle chambered in x39mm is a fairly useful firearm. Yes, a "real" .30 caliber will do all the x39mm does and more, but the truth is that for what a lot of us do with a rifle, the x39mm works fine. Now that the x39mm has been integrated into the US shooting culture, good sporting ammunition is available.......we no longer have to accept only steel case import ammo. Brass is available from a number of sources, so too projectiles intended just for the cartridge. I think all the big US ammo companies load a suitable hunting round in x39 for those wanting ammo over the counter. The assorted import ammo is still out there as an option for practice or in a pinch.
I've hunted the x39mm for 15 yrs or so now on southern whitetails, and have found it completely adequate for deer in woodland settings. I rank it as a near equal to the 30-30, which is typically accepted as adequate. My x39mm rifles are a Mini-30 and a 77MkII, both of these rifles having 20" tubes. Most of my deer have been taken with a reload using the Sierra 135gr SSP bullet, but with that slug no longer available, we've shifted to the 125 gr SST from Hornady with no complaints.
Regards scopes, my bolt rifle wears a Leupold 2-7x compact (32mm?) and the Mini has a Leupold 1-4x shotgun scope (20mm). Both keep their respective rifles light and easy to carry. My x39mm shooting for deer has all been under 100 yds, and at those distances, no big scope is needed. With the x39mm being about a 200yd deer cartridge, it doesn't need a big scope period. The scopes do allow point counting on leases and state land that have antler restrictions. The bolt rifle is accurate enough that 7x allows for fine tuning loads during 100 yd zero , and accurate shooting to 200 yds. But I have never taken a deer with the scope cranked to 7x, and a compact fixed 4x, or the same 1-4x variable that's on the Mini, would work about as well afield. Plus, scopes allow shooting in poor light that would defeat the use of iron sights. I don't see the lack of iron sights on the new American Ranch in x39mm as a big deal, many of my sporters do not have irons, as I've removed them, or they came that way from the box.