First question a lot of people like to ask: what's your application? Hunting or no? Personally, I don't ask this at all for deer-sized game and smaller because I think shot placement will put an animal down with just about any bullet, but that's another conversation.
Second question: what cartridge are you shooting? This will determine what kind of velocity you will get from a certain bullet weight. Bullet weight can also affect recoil, BC, etc.
Once you know what weight bullet you want to shoot, then I would just choose one that seems like a good option to me. Generally, I stay away from true VLD's and stuff with a secant ogive as a general rule. Hybrids or tangent ogive for me.
Example: In my 308 I used to shoot 175gr Sierra MatchKings mostly because that's tried and true for a 308 and they just flat work. Later, I went to 155gr ELD-M's because they were a more efficient bullet at the ranges I was typically shooting. They also gave me a slight recoil reduction over the 175's.
(Now, I shoot a 25x47 with 131gr bullets that are FAAAR superior to anything I would shoot from a 308.)
I personally would tend to stay towards the heavy for caliber side of things to pick up the extra BC they typically offer. This is a no-brainer for me in the 6mm and 25 cal cartridges (20 cal and 22 cal have a different purpose for me (see: varmint hunting), so the heavies may get passed over in that case) because you can efficiently push a heavy bullet with short-action cases. As you step up to 6.5mm and through 7mm, 30 cal, 338, etc. the smaller cases struggle with heavy bullets more and more.
For short action, .473" face cartridges (similar to the 308 Win case), I would probably choose:
6mm - 105, 110, 115 gr
25 cal - my favorite, the 131gr BlackJack ACE
6.5mm - 140 gr class (maybe 130's)
7mm - 160 gr class and under
308 - 175 or 185 gr class
