I still have my 25's they are not gone. I have reloaded everything since 1974. Not need to tell me how the calibers work on Mule deer I have used most all of them and I have seen it all first hand. Last Fall I shot four with the 25-06, two with the 308 and two with the 30-06. Year before I shot one with the 280, one with the 257 Roberts and one with the 250 Savage. Oh and one with the 50 caliber Muzzle loader. The year before I shot four with the 6.5x55. WE have a lot of Mule deer where I hunt. I could have bought 10 tags last year But just got eight. The whole family loves the meat. I am happy to bring it home. If I am biased its in favor of the eight or so rifles that I use all the time. And I am very biased against the 243 as a big game rifle. Won't deny that for a second. If I had to give them all up but one I wouild keep the 308 or the 6.5x55. Now those rifles drop deer. I gave up all the magnums. I had the 7MM Mag,300 Win Mag, 300 Weatherby Mag and the 338 and 416 Rem Mags.

I would have to keep my 7600 30-06 as well. Love my 7mm-08 and 45-70's too. Yup I must be Biased. With those and a few others like the 270, I don't need the little 24 for big game. The 243 is sure not up to taking on the 280 at anything.

Oh by the way if you find a 257 Weatherby in the woods, rather than burn it, the smarter thing might be to sell it. Thats just me though if you would rather burn it than get a few bucks for it, Light up.