I bought a Ruger M-77 back in 1980 in .243 caliber, have killed about 150 deer with it...Look at the ammo avaliable, there is a reason you see many more bullet loading avaliable in .243 vs 25-06, a 25-06 won't do anything to a deer that a .243 won't do...It's too long of barrel with few factory ammo loadings avaliable, since it's already a long action, it ends up being 2 1/2 inches longer than a .243...