Nobody is afraid of anything, but please give it a rest! You keep saying you knew you would cause a stir with your comments and you have because you are essentially wrong when recommending a minimal caliber like you have, especially to a new hunter. You're the only one on this thread espousing the .223 for deer and still have maintained it's good at 300 yards when the ft./lbs out at that distance is barely half of what most experts say a deer should be hit with at POI. You keep touting a caliber that is very marginal for what you keep saying it's good for and that even applies to a 125 yard distance when you have so many more calibers that can be loaded for deer with a big game bullet and a lighter one for varmints. As super hunt54 and I have mentioned, the .223 with a good bullet placed properly will kill a deer, but be a little off and hit bone and chances are you have a lost animal or a mess on your hands finding it because the bullet can't do the job properly unless placed perfectly. In many hunting circumstances we all know that the perfect shot doesn't happen that often and why we are all telling the OP to stay away from a small caliber like the .223 and go with one that is designed for big game, which the .223 was not.