While I have several rifles that will all work for deer at home, when I go on a paid hunt the Howa 300 wm in a McMillan always goes with me. With a zeiss on top it weighs in at just over 8lbs and I have not found much that can stand up to a 150 gr ttsx at 3300 fps. It will shoot that load well under an inch and I have not stopped one in an animal yet. It shoots flat enough that I don't have to think much about my shot out to my self imposed limit of 400 yards and the felt recoil is no more than my friends 30-06 forbes.
Also, since I load my own, I have a light load with 150 gr soft point bullets that does right at 2600fps that shoots even smaller groups than the ttsx. Works very well for deer and is a pleasure to shoot.
