My first deer rifle was an ancient 32 Special and it served me well until 1978, when I upgraded to a scoped M700 in 25-06. Still have both.
While I have strayed a few times over the past 50 years, killing deer with assorted 30-06s, 8x57s, a 444, 35 Rem and several other choices, there was never really any reason to have abandoned the first two choices. I've even killed deer with the 22-250. Have a 243. Haven't gotten around to using it on deer yet, but I hear they "might work"?
Killed two deer last season with that M700 25-06. Still works well and I can shoot that thing most all day with nary a whimper from my 65 year old shoulder.
