My daughter uses a 243 Win. I helped her setup this rifle/scope. After a lot of experimenting at the range, and 10 +/- years hunting white tailed er here in the SE USA, the best combo for killing deer cleanly at short and longer ranges is a quality 100 gr. bullet designed for medium size game. (Not the varmint stuff) She has killed deer cleanly from about point blank --- under 30 yards ... out to about 250 yards. Very few have dropped quicky, but non have gone farhter than about 200 yards. Most are down within 50 yards.