I know this has been beat to death, but my youngest boy killed his first deer after Christmas with a 70gr ballistic tip. And yeah, I know those are supposedly varmint rounds, but it absolutely devastated that yearling spike. 60 yd shot, with a nice exit wound, and the deer made it 30 yds out of the plot. I've seen deer run further shot with a 7-mag. He'd practiced with and was comfortable with the rifle and the rounds and knew where the vitals were for proper bullet placement, and that "varmint" pill worked beautifully. Don't pigeon hole yourself into thinking there are only 2 or 3 options for deer in a 243.