I too "worried" to death a young buck with a .30 carbine, but shot placement wasn't the best on first shot, admittedly. I think the case for hot .22s is more Regional than arbitrary, i.e. small southern deer vs northern deer/mule deer. I have used the .220 Swift on Mule deer here in Utah and on exotics down in Texas. I was recovering from a neck surgery. I've also used a 6x47mm on axis deer and bigger, same reason though, health reasons. I do know people that use the .223, even the .22 Hornet, but they were shooting deer off of feeders at 25yds. Not much needed for that. All around deer hunting? Sure I agree the 25.06 and .240 Weatherby, .270 are great, but on those big Northern whitetail or even big Mule Deer, a .270 can be "marginal, with 30.06 class in the "better" category, or even the 7mm mags/300 mags. Now, private property hunters, etc, all can get by with smaller calibers, but the biggest complaint I ever heard on magnums as opposed to too small is either "they ruin too much meat" or "they kick too bad to shoot accurately". Never have I heard It killed them too dead, ha. But, having shot a few whitetails off of those close feeders, I did feel a bit silly using a 300 Winmag, ha. I used a 30-30 with comple satisfaction on those Texas deer, growing up. My only gripe with it was its iron sights, I missed a few out around 150yds with that particular rifle. But no sweat as 99% of my shots were under 65 steps! ha.