For deer, they do make a few bullets intended to take deer size game. The Barnes X bullet and the Nosler Partition. I have had two 223 Handi rifles and they were very accurate. I had a 22-250 and two 243's all of these had major case sticking issues. Like at least half of the time. I also really like the 45-70 and Buffalo Classic. All of the rimmed cases work well in the handi rifle.