Lever Action Rifle Calibers

Recently, I have been thinking about a new lever-action rifle. The appeal of these late 1800 models is that they are great, very light (5lbs) for backpacking and pack enough punch for anything you need in the woods/bush. Lever action rifles, comparing to heavy (~8.5lbs) bolt action calibers (.30-06, 7.62x54R) we normally shoot are far more maneuverable in the thicket and honestly safer with the heavy animals like a boar, elk or moose because of their  10+1 capacity and rapid fire ability.

I have been thinking about the caliber I would like to pick up, here are the options I considered. Please be aware that I reload my ammo and I am not planning to pay $2 per round of Buffalo Bore. Also, I don't like revolvers so there is no appeal for me of carrying a matching hand piece, I like my 1911 .45 ACP just fine for "personal" defense.

• .38 Special / .357 Magnum - while it would be a great caliber for fun plinking and smaller game and home-defense I decided that I need to rule it out because it is definitely not a boar caliber, an important criterium for me.
• .44-40 Winchester - this is the grandpa of all lever-action cartridges and while it is plenty powerful and honestly cool, it is not recommended as a boar load.
• .44 Special / .44 Magnum - this combination is easy to buy (or reload) with many options available (305gr.@1,325fps/1,189ft-lbs.). The .44 Special is a great round for plinking and self defense, .44 magnum is designed for hunting and it is a good boar load (deer and everything else smaller).  I have a feeling that this combination is the best for lever action rifle. 
• .45 Colt - honestly I wanted this one the most, especially that I already reload .45 ACP which share similar tooling. The .45 Colt while most of the time weak, can have very powerful +P options from DoubleTap (335 gr.,1605 fps, 1916 ft. lbs. in 16 inch barrel).
• .454 Casull caliber that does all that .44 and .45 Colt can, but on average has much more power (360gr.@1,425fps/1,623ft-lbs.), the cartridge is still SHORT enough in length so you can carry many of them. What is most important you can shoot .45 Colt out of .454 Casull chambering rifle, all you have to do is clean the chamber after you do to wipe the carbon deposits before you use .454 round again. I would have to make some extra-light loads (250 gr. & TrailBoss@1,100fps) for it for plinking and I would have the LIGHT, MEDIUM and HEAVLY rifle in one package. This way I can shoot regular load .45 Colt for 80% of my needs and have .454 for boar hunting and for the Yukon/Alaska trip I dream about.
• .45-70 Government - It is definitely plenty of gun (430gr.@1,925fps/3,537ft-lbs.) for ALL dangerous animals in the back country (boar, bear, moose, bison, mountain lion). The problem with this round is that it is HUGE and takes the valuable space in the magazine tube of the rifle
• .30-30 - This is a great and proven lever action rifle cartridge, but similarly to .45-70 I feel that it is too long and takes too much space. 

Rifle Models I like in order of my preference:

• .454 Casul R92 Carbine Lever Action Rifle, 16" Round Barrel, LOA 34", 4.8 lbs, 8+1 tubular magazine, $742.20, 0 available, #R92-68016
• .454 Casull Rossi R92 Blue Lever Action Rifle, 20" Round Barrel, LOA 37.5", 10+1 tubular magazine, $665 - 0 available #R92-68001 
• .45 Colt R92 Large Loop Lever Action Rifle, 4.8 lbs, 16" Round Barrel, Blue, LOA 34", Saddle Ring, 8+1 tubular magazine, $635.08, 7 available, #R92-57006
• .45 Colt, 16" Round Barrel, 8+1 tubular magazine,  #R92-57008 $624 - 15 available
• .45 Magnum R92 Carbine Lever Action Rifle, 16" Round Barrel, 8+1 tubular magazine, LOA 34", 4.8 lbs,,  $624 - 22 available l #R92-55008

• Marlin Model 1894 20" barrel 6.5 lbs $729.19 - 0 available

• Marlin 336C 30-30 6+1

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