RE: 243 and deer
A .243 aint no joke...Thats what i use and i've been usin it for about 6 yrs...and its just a Savage .243...I had a .300 mag and still chose the .243 over it...the thing i found out...or at least for myself is that the higher caliber guns dont have much KE(kenetic energy) especially at close range, they just blow right through the deer...or at least it seems like it..with my gun 13 does, and 6 bucks have went down from were they stood to no more than 45yds(<--gut shot)...including a 2 stepper from 179yds..so i say hell yea to a .243...you get a hell ofa punch w/o all the recoil..
only thing...long shots over 200 yds maybe a lil different..