I bought my first rifle ( Savage 110 Storm in .223 ) relatively " late in life " just a couple of years ago. I have thoroughly enjoyed shooting it. Boringly accurate, cheaper to shoot than most things, soft recoil, etc. Got it for casual range shooting and the occasional predator and pig hunt. Having said all that, if I wanted a rifle for everything from casual paper, through varmints and predators, all the way through deer ( and even bigger ), IMO .308 can do it all. I don`t deer hunt, but if I did, I would have gone .308 to cover all those bases.