If you're wanting a carbine for NC deer hunting I don't think you could do better than a 308 Win... jut my POV.
I love my 308 full size 24". The only reason I don't want a shorter 308 is that I want something capable of pushing a heavier bullet for bears. You don't see many loads published for the 220 grain RN bullets for a 308. I'm also thinking about getting a long range setup in 300WSM, so I could at least keep the components relatively similar.
