I used a 6.5x55 Swede to kill mine this year. The deer hated the 140g Partition.
The shot was approx 115y. It was a large bodied 10pt buck (or as they referred to it a 5x5) and I got complete pentratration with it, a large exit wound, lots of blood, and a dead deer within 40-45y. I couldn't ask for anything more than what I got.
Our guides both used .243 Winchesters. The've killed a pile of huge bodied Canadian bruisers and cut racks off 160" deer and throw them in a pile in the garage. He's got multiple 200" + non-typicals and a 180" typical in the house that was killed with a .243 win. I think it's actually the biggest rifle that either of them own and they're both born and raised in Sask. He also killed a 360" bull elk at over 200y with that little .243 Win and a 85g TSX. Apparently it was a bam flop from another hunter who called it in for him. I can't see a reason to bring my .243 Win instead of my 6.5x55 or .308 Win, but those guys were fully confident with it and who am I to argue with their success.
I just wish the guys around home would learn to shoot. It's amazing to me to watch guys blow the front leg off a deer with a .308 Win or .30-06 and somehow or another convince themselves that it would have turned out differently had they been using a bigger gun.
