RE: First deer 243 and questions
Right - Not to worry. I shot about 25 or so deer with a .243 in my younger years. All but one of them dropped where they stood. The one that didn't was the fault of the bullet. It just fragmented on impact. The second bullet however entered the right side and destroyed the lungs and broke the opposite shoulder.
That is asking a lot for a 100 gr bullet but somehow the .243 (and 6mm) have a tendency to do that. For some strange reason I do not have a .243 in my gun safe. But its a great deer cartridge. Not the best, but pretty darn good.