Where I hunt it is a legal caliber for deer. With the 60 grain Nosler Partition or the Speer Bonded bear claw or the Barnes X bullet, It will do a good job on deer out to two hundred yards. I wouldn't recommend it as a deer rifle but a lot of ranchers use them for deer because they always have them in thier trucks. The 223 is also legal in our state. I would always use a 25 caliber or bigger.