If you like to hear folks squabble, just ask your hunting buddies if the 223 Remington is up to the job of deer hunting. You’ll get plenty of opinions and maybe some cussing and finger pointing, too.

The beginning of my education in deer bullets began in 1971 when I shot a mule deer with a 180-grain bullet from a .300 Weatherby at 200 yards or so. I hit him right through the lungs, and he ran off ...