I base my opinions on how well the .243 works on personal experience as well. Granted I've not shot the .257 Roberts, so my opinion there is based on the numbers (not as fast, not as much energy, not as flat). I'm not arguing that it's not a great deer cartridge.

As far as citing Chuck Hawks tables on recoil, I'm not aware of anyone else who has done the type of research he has. He shows the .243 at 8 ft lbs of recoil using a 7.5 lb rifle, and the .257 at 10.8 ft lbs using an 8 lb rifle. I don't know whether a 25% increase in recoil at these levels is significant. As far as .257 bullets vs. .243 bullets... There's not that huge of a selection of Robs at most sporting goods stores. Premium bullets you'll almost have to reload, and I'll admit the Rob may get the nod for reloaders. I was at Academy last night, and all they had Remington Express 117 gr. Core Lokts. I really doubt that on deer a 117 gr. Core Lokt is going to perform any better than a faster 100 gr. Core Lokt. So far I've had one instance where I didn't get complete penetration with my .243 on a dozen deer (it had gone through both shoulders and lodged just under the skin). I've also had one failure to completely penetrate with my '06 out of only four deer. I really find it hard to believe that folks think .243 bullets have such poor construction that they're no good for deer.