Given your noted criteria, and if it were up to me, I would look only at the 7x57R and regulate for 175 gr bullets. This bullet wt. is a bit heavy in the 7x57r but this bullet wt will give good penetration and provide good knock down power for medium game up to Elk. And if you pursue black bear so much the better to use a heavier bullet. I like the .444 marlin (and don't see it on your list)as well but this cartridge maybe a bit our of the realm of possibilities being that the 45-70 was eliminated from contention right off the mark. J.Stephens