This is the perspective of an old school guy who has never hunted anything larger than whitetail. I have hunted with .308, 270 Winchester 6.5 Grendel 6mm Remington & most recently 6mm ARC. All of these have been bolt actions. I own a 6.5 Creedmoor & for reasons I can not explain I have had no desire to shoot that rifle.
All of the rifles above would satisfy the Ops criteria. Despite my preferences for 6mm cartridges, Availability of ammo & components may give the 308 an edge. Bottom line they all can & do work well when the nut behind the trigger does their part.
Practice, practice & practice & if less expensive ammo facilitates that & or if less recoil facilitates more practice then do what works for you.