My 8 year old son took his first deer last weekend during the MS youth season. He shot his doe at 72 yards quartering away on a green field. The round entered right side behind the shoulder and exited low in the left shoulder. Left shoulder was wrecked and I actually found the copper casing from the hornady bullet lodged in the shoulder. The deer mule kicked and ran about 40 yards, but didn’t leave much of a blood trail. 30 years ago, I killed my first with a borrowed .243 I’m Marengo County. They’ll work fine, just like a 223 in the right hands. [s][/