Although I would point out that many of us will use that "$50 a box trick bullet" in any caliber/cartridge anyway.
I respect everyone else's opinion, but I will try to justify mine as well:
I have nothing against good bullets, and can certainly afford them if I can afford to feed my .257 Bob. It sometimes runs that much a box. It really isn't about the price so much, as not knowing what the other guy will do. He/she may go buy a 105gr partition or TTSX and shoot a big mulie buck that is quartering quite a bit...and drop him. Or they may buy an 80gr cup and core, but wait for a better angle...and drop him
...or they might take a steep quartering shot with the wrong bullet, and suddenly I'm the jerk in their story of the one that got away. Maybe they were never a good enough shot to begin with and they get into the hind quarter a bit where a better shooter might not have. Given a factory cartridge from .25/120gr to .300Anymag/180, the deer should be DRT or close to it, as it will probably penetrate far enough.
So I steer clear of overtly bullet sensitive choices like the fast .22's, and the .243/6mm. I like my deer rifles to start at .25/120gr, and prefer partitions in that caliber.
I WOULD USE a .243...even a .22-250 or .223 and would recommend it for a few other hunters I know (with the right bullets). For these people, under the right circumstances even a .22 Hornet or .32-20 would do (think tree stand, close range). That is because I know what I will do and I think I know what my close friends will do, which is place bullets well, and pass on bad shots.
With strangers I start to get a lot more conservative and conventional with my advice because I just don't know what I don't know, and should they take my advice, I want them to be happy and successful with it.
Anybody else's Milage May Vary, but those are the reasons I make the recommendations I do.
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