I've dropped quite a few whitetails with a .243 and 100 grain corelokts. This was all I used while hunting the thick brushy north woods of NH and Maine. It was the only rifle I had and I never felt handicapped because I was using "cheap" ammo. I'll take good shot placement with cheap ammo over trying to plow a bullet through brush and hope to drive it lengthwise through a deer any day of the week.