Catcatcher, I know I'll probably get a lot of slack for this, but in my opinion, go with something a little more powerful, if you have a choice. I know tons of hunters out there use the .243, and with success, but I personally have a problem with it.
The .243 is a sweet shooter, and many, many deer have been taken with them. In the hands of a competent shooter, it will certainly get the job done, depending, of course, on range, bullet weight, etc. I bought one for my daughter once, and even used it myself to take several deer one season, but I found that in some cases the bullet didn't make an exit, therefore, little or no blood trail. I managed to find every deer I shot, but some of them were heart/lung shots that left no blood and in the thick places I was hunting, only my persistence found the dead animal. I killed every deer I shot, just had to trail some of them very hard. I've also helped trail deer that other hunters shot with the .243, sometimes for very long distances.
I have a friend that handloads for his rifle, and gets good performance from the Barnes X-bullets. My bad experience was with factory loads.
When it came time to get my grandson his first rifle, I chose a 7mm-08 Remington roughly the same recoil as a .243, but much better ballistics. (On his first hunt with the new gun, he took 2 deer between 180 and 210 yards and dropped them in their tracks with lung shots. He has taken a number since then, and I'm pretty sure we've only had to blood-trail one, which we found within 75 yards.) We gave him a Browning .308 last year, but he still likes the 7mm-08 best.
However , I will say this: The best rifle for you is one you have confidence in!
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