While the 308 is the easy button, any of the others from 6.5 to 358 on the short actions are plenty capable in 16-18” barrels. However, the larger the bore, the more efficient a given case size is for shorter barrels. So, the 358 is Taylor made for this scenario. I have a 308 BLR takedown cut to 16.5 and threaded, that’s just about ideal for any eastern hunting uses. The only way it might be ‘more’ would be to make it a 358. Not sure it’s really ‘better’, though. I probably wouldn’t lose sleep if it was a 6.5cm or a 7-08, either. I have no doubts about any of them.