I'm sorry, but, I seriously doubt that, given the exact same impact point under the exact same circumstances, your .270 would have "flattened" a deer, while your .243 "failed to impress" him and he just moseyed off 20 yards to die. Deer shot with my .243 have actually averaged LESS travel after the shot than deer shot with my .30-06 (which is more potent than your .270...). I've had them drop in their tracks with both. I've had them run after the shot with both. Every deer that I've shot at with my .243 has been impressed to death by its effectiveness. With regard to your .250 on the muley (nice one, by the way), I'm curious about the bullet you used, since you say you shot twice in the chest with one foot of penetration (I take from this that there was no exit?). I've yet to take a chest shot on a whitetail that didn't fully penetrate with my .243.

As for new hunters and the buck fever crowd... I think they are better off shooting a rifle of which they are not afraid of the recoil.