I have a Remington 700 VLS in .223 for sale. It shoots 1/2" groups and less at 100 yards. 1" high at 100 yards is zeroed at 200 and about 6" low at 300 yards. I have only shot it at 300 yards once and I shot a 3.25" group. Im sure the gun will shoot better than I can but I could kill a coyote at 300 yards with it.

The .223 has less recoil and cheaper ammo than the .243 and it has a ton of ammo choices. If you want to shoot deer size game you can get 60gr partitions or 53gr x bullets too.