Your missing the point .Within range limits 200-250 yards and proper bullet selection [Eastern WT 's] the .243 or my .250 Sav Rem.700 Classic will kill deer just fine.I had occasion to finish a WT buck at 300 yards and poked him broadside in the lungs with a 100gr handload from the .250 and you could hear the bullet hit and he just sucked it up and strolled in a semi-circle 20 yards and laid down.With a .270 he'd have been flattened.Although there was a foot of bullet penetration the deer was unimpressed.Foot pounds is bullet energy hence knockdown power.It's like comparing a .22 Hornet to a.338 sure the end result is a dead deer but how far did it travel after the shot.The big bodied mule buckbelow took two chest hits running through the poplars and pogoed on 50 yards unfazed. Then he stopped and looked back at me over his shoulder offering no target except his neck.One offhand shot an inch below his ear relaxed him right now.This was a rutted deer over 300lbs live weight 100gr .250 Sav @ 3000fps I love my .250 and am very picky [surgical]about my shots.New hunters and the buckfever crowd arn't experienced enough to pass shots that are questionable and will wound and lose animals.People tend to remember only the sucessful outcomes.I'm not condemning the caliber just the possible outcome for users that are unwilling to pass on questionable shots. Harold