I'm going to lower the tone and suggest that while .308 is a far better deer calibre, for all round shoot-everything-cheaply a .223 is hard to beat. Belmont black etc do not cost much, my last purchase from them was $599/1000 (GST incl). Bullet placement is always key, and even a really big calibre will not stop something if you just nick it's tail. 223 is obviously not the best rifle to start deer hunting with, but .223 ammo can be obtained for less than $1/rd so is very economical particularly if you're gong after wallabies, goats etc.
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