.243

[theDuck]

I've killed more deer than I can remember with the 243. Bullet weight is 100grain and ranges out to 200 yard. The buck I hit this year (@65 yards) went 40 yard and piled up with one double lung shot. The daughter likewise hit her first deer with a 243, a big doe at 85 yards, go 40 yard and pile up with a double lung shot.
Now funny thing is the daughter needed 3 shots to kill a porcupine earlier (on the ground) in almost the same spot she got the doe. So is the 243 adequate for deer but not enough gun for porcupines?

 

[StoneHorse]

"In the hands of a expert marksman/with Premium bullets OK otherwise NO".

So in other words, as the caliber and energy increases, you can aim less and less until you reach such cartridges as the .577 T-Rex. With such a cartridge, you don't even need to aim at all. Just point it in the general direction of any game animal and the muzzle blast will do the rest.

 

[RoscoeT]

"In the hands of a expert marksman/with Premium bullets OK otherwise NO".

So in other words, as the caliber and energy increases, you can aim less and less until you reach such cartridges as the .577 T-Rex. With such a cartridge, you don't even need to aim at all. Just point it in the general direction of any game animal and the muzzle blast will do the rest.

Exactly... it's 100% shot placement.

Who needs more that a 100gr soft point moving at almost 3000 fps to kill a 160lbs animal? Bad shooters, that's who.

Plenty of gun for medium range shooting.

Bad shooters with their .300 Win Mags may be luckier, because their hail Mary, 400+ yard running shot, knocked one down.

But never confuse luck with skill.

Skill is repeatable luck.