My first centerfire rifle was a .30-06 that I bought in 1967. I immediately started reloading for it. I reloaded 125 gr bullets for prairie dogs, 150 gr bullets for deer and antelope, and 180 gr bullets for elk. Back then we didn't have the great variety of bullets that we have now, so my practice and hunting bullets were the same.
When I moved from Colorado to Montana in 1975, `I shot my first whitetail deer with that rifle, along with a few more pronghorn antelope, and a few more (and my best 6x6) bull elk with it.
My favorite rifle now is my .300 Weatherby Vanguard. I've used it on multiple hunts here in Montana and Texas, multiple hunts in Africa, and hunts in New Zealand and Azurbaijan. Although I've shot many animals smaller than whitetail deer with it, it would not be my first choice for a whitetail deer hunt.
In recent years I've bought two more Weatherby Vanguard rifles, one in .223 and the other in .308 Win. I used the .308 on a Sitka blacktail deer hunt on Kodiak Island in Alaska, but I mainly bought those two rifles for practice shooting at the 200, 300, and 430 yard steel gongs at our local rifle range.
I've always reloaded my own ammunition, and to further keep the costs down, I buy components in bulk quantities when I can. I like to hear the loud WHACK that a bullet from my .300 Wby makes when it hits the 430 yd steel gong, but at 84.5 grains of powder per shot, the .300 Wby is not an economical practice cartridge.
Because I do practice some with my .300 Wby, I shoot cheaper Hornady HPBT bullets for practice at $0.76 per shot rather than the Barnes TTSX hunting bullets at $1.37 per shot.
My .308 Win burns a little over 1/2 of the powder for each shot as the .300 Wby does and my .308 cartridges only cost me $0.47 each. My .223 reloads only burn 1/3 as much powder as my .300 Wby and they only cost me $0.22 each.
Even with yesterday's 15 mph plus winds, I was able to keep all of my .223 and .308 hits on the steel gongs out to and including the gong at 430 yards. Until I started shooting both of these cartridges together, I never realized how much more wind drift there is with the .223 bullets compared to the .308 bullets.
I know that .223 bullets will kill deer (I've killed deer with less), but I would not reccommend the .223 as a deer hunting cartridge, and I would not hesitate to hunt any deer with my .308 Win.