deadon,
I love the .243, especially with the 100 grain bullets. My favorite is the Speer 100gr. Grand Slam. A bit more spendy, but I like heavy bullets. Deer (mule and whitetail), dall sheep, mt. goat; it does all this on down. I have never heard (from my hunting buddies) any horror stories about game getting away given fair distances and well placed shots. Now, I have heard of people shooting moose and bears with this round and them not having a instantaneous kill. Duh! As long as you don't expect to shoot a black bear in the paw and expect lighting bolts from the heavens, you will do fine. Enjoy!