Ditto what driftrider said. If your primary focus is on target shooting, you'll probably end up shooting a 6 or 6.5mm caliber which are generally the preferred target calibers and are more than enough for deer sized game or smaller. There's also nothing wrong with a 25 or 24 caliber for deer sized game. If you want to shoot elk or bigger game, most hunters (but not all) would recommend something in 30 caliber beginning at 30-06. I'm sure you've learned that no single pistol or shotgun will be optimum for all target and hunting scenarios, etc. and rifles are pretty much the same.