I know this is the rifle section, but the question is about best do it all lever guns and to me that means a lever gun in .410. I truly believe that in the modern era the lever gun really shines as a .410 shotgun, and that rifles cartridges are best served in more dedicated platforms. The following are my reasons:
Hunting (all likely to be 75 yards or less for me because of where I live):
-Small game and bird hunting done with a wide array of bird shot.
-Bigger than a squirrel smaller than a deer use a foster style slug.
-Hog, Deer, Black Bear in your sights? Use a Brenneke style slug.
-bigger game than that, well now you are outside the do it all (in my opinion) category and should use the proper dedicated rifle platform.
Target Shooting:
-Shoot clay all day long due to light ish recoil of the .410 in a heavier platform and celebrate every success due to the challenge of .410 clay shooting.
-Plinking: Very affordable if you are into reloading, a challenge at all ranges with buck horns, or take it up a notch and play with a sight up to 100 yards or so.
-Fun for the whole family: Everyone can have fun with the limited recoil of the .410 and the thrill of working the lever.
Home Defense:
-Buckshot: This is where buckshot really shines in a .410. The whole family can handle .410 buckshot, and you get sufficient penetration and energy to stop nonmiliterized home invaders. Sure you are not getting as many pellets as a 12ga, but hitting someone with 4 pellets at once is still tremendous.
-Sound/Recoil/Flash: With a .410 these are all going to be at the lower end of painful/disorientating in your moment of need. Sure it’s not as quiet as a .22lr, but it’s nowhere as loud as that 9” barreled AR 15 is going to be or the 12 ga alternative.
-Easy reloading/topping off: You can use a side gate, or a quick reload tube you keep near the rifle. Is it as convenient as a magazine? No, but it is faster than all other platforms.
-That lever action sound is very similar to the pump action sound so if you believe in racking a round as a deterrent you have that feature in a lever gun.
-Tacticool Goodies: Everything available to the AR platform is now an option for a lever gun. Lights/lasers/foregrips/skeleton furniture/quivers, etc you name it, you can now put it on your lever gun.
So yeah, to me the lever gun as an outdated platform really shines as a do it all firearm in the .410 configuration. Will it defeat the military of a tyrannical government? Nope, but it will feed your family, protect you from scum, has the widest range of shooting fun, and everyone in the family can handle it all day with a smile on their face. Everything else you need to do with a fire arm to me is something best done with a dedicated platform. Conceal carry out in public, shoot large or dangerous game, target shoot out at 500+ yards, defeat body armor or win military gunfights these are all done best with dedicated tools and should be outside the scope of what you want your do it all platform to actually do.