I have killed deer with my 223 and never lost one. I prefer the Speer 70 gr simi spitzer for deer size game, although the Sierra 65 gr Game King is designed for medium game as well.
I have a few boxes of the Nosler partisions and they are very inaccurate in my Savage heavy varmint, so I choose not to use them. Although I have recently purchased a new Savage mod 25 Classic as a walk arround gun and who knows it might just like those Noslers.
I have been told that the Winchester 64 gr spitzer bullets were great on deer size game as long as you don't launch them too fast, and this would be a great thing as they can be purchased for around $60 per 500 from Midway.
If you can take only standing broad side shots and can hit the vitals every time the 223 with heavier bullets will kill cleanly, if notopt for more gun.
Here around the Lake Martin area of central Alabama I often hunt with my beagles, my rifle of choice is a Marlin 1895 with 430 gr hard cast bullets, it'll penetrate any deer from a--hole to appetite and group sub moa on a good day.