ORIGINAL: The Famous Grouse
My father had an excellent Savage 11 in .22-250 and the accuracy was excellent. Savage rifels have, in general, I think a well deserved reputation for OOB accuracy.
When I was younger and shot a lot, I could place 3 shot groups at 100 yardsthat could be covered by a nickel. Absolutely amazing, the accuracy held up very well out to 400+ yards.
As regards the .243 as a whitetail round, while it doesn't have the bullet mass, the shock power alone is surely more than enough to kill? A 4000 FPS slug must hit like a freight train! Obviously if there's poor shot placement it won't be enough, but that's never the gun's fault be it a 7MM or a .243, it's the nut behind the stock that needs tightening in that case.
Grouse
Your post reminded me that I am still going off my impression from 20 years ago when the bullet selection wasn't as deep and my dad did nothing but curse the round after he had a 21 point get away, lol. The only other guy I know currently using one is a horrible shot, I watched him go through 20 rounds trying to site his in before I finally intervened and had it sighted in within 4 shots and 1 of those was just a confirm shot. He was chasing single bullet holes, he just wouldn't listen to me about triangulating the shot. After he saw how it was done he finally understood, and I also think he built up a little resentment for me even though he asked me to sight it in for him. I guess in his mind I made him look bad, who knows, who cares. [8D]