I alwayssuggest that when someone is looking for a first deer rifle they go with a fairly mainstream round with light recoil. Of the rounds Bamabuckhunter is interested in, Iwould go with a 308, but I think a 7mm-08 would served him better.
For deer hunting you would be hard pressed to find anything that kills deer better than a 140gr, 7mm bullet fired from a 7Mag, 280 or 7mm-08 it doesn't really matter. IMO if you need to use a 175gr 7mm bullet for anything then you need a bigger diameter bullet.
For the record I wouldn't sell my A-Bolt in 280Rem for $1000.
