I have a 243 ,6mm rem and 25-06 rem. the 243 is a deadly round to a deer! i have a little youth 700 my son has taken many with. but he jumped up to my 25-06 this year shooting 120 gr sierras. a good buck ran farther than any he ever killed with a 243 and it was excellent shot placement.
I have tracked them long distances with alot of calibers being the weapon . one that was hit with a 45-70 in the chest ran some 150 yards! and i have seen them hit with a 243 in the base of the neck and fold up!
shot placement!

If you want a 243 get one or try something else . just be good with whatever you get.

i shot a 5x8 non typical idaho muley .. dropped him with one shot at 300+ yards....i was using remington 100 grain coreloks and a remington model 7 rifle...

243 is a great cartridge for deer and coyotes. Best of luck with your purchase.

i would lean more to the 2506 personnally heavier bullet for the deer!

just to play devils advocate i love my 25-06. sweet shooting and accurate as heck!

I have the 25-06 and a 243 and find I use the 243 win more . I think the reason for this is the shorter barrel and lighter weight of the 243win . Both rifles are the same model Ruger . Either one works well for deer and Varmints .

234 would be good. Here are some websights you can visit to look at em.

www.remington.com
www.browning.com
www.winchester.com

Let us know what you get

I shoot a Remington 700 .243, and have used the .243 for over 10 years. It doesn't knock them down like the .270 or 30-06, but I've NEVER lost a deer with the .243! (knock on wood). Get the .243 with a Leupold VX III 3x9x50, and you can't go wrong!

As you can probably tell by my sceen name, I love the 243. I have taken everything from prairie dogs to deer and antelope with it. with 100gr bullets, you can take any deer out to about 300 yards. and with 55gr bullets, you can rock any coyotes world out to,and even past, 650 yards.
mine is a Ruger M77 mkII, with a Leupold vx-III 4.5-14X50. I would definitely recommend a 243 over anything expecially a 25-06. I just don't have the same confidence in that caliber.
[link]http://Ruger.com[/link]
I think Ruger offers the best set-ups

Here we again,lol. I have posted this before and some of you may not agree(and yes ,I have heard it before), but my brother has hunted moose in northern BC with a 243 for the last 20 years. He has shot over a dozen of them and they have all been one shot kills. So, I would say the 243 is good enough for deer and yotes. This is just a statement, I can`t prove it nor am I going argue the point but to my brother, that caliber works great.

Ron