shaman,
If you were to switch to a 150 grain in a stout bullet, such as a Partition or TSX or even a bonded, you'd probably sing the same basic tune. The recoil is lighter and the deer die just as fast, with good penetration to boot.
At least that's what I found when switching from 180s on down the scale over time to where I am now at, which is a 130 grain TSX.
