I live in Al and deer are not large, wqhile ANY 22 Centerfire is legal (I've use 221 Fireball to 220 Swift). I have not had bad results with the 260 Rem. My personal experience is with close shots on deer pillaging my shrubbery/free range chicken feed after they destroyed my garden. I wasa shooting Rem 140 Core-Lokt PSPs from a Rem M7 19" bbl. Al the deer were DRT and had less tissue damage the faster 224s I've used. If you want to have a tissaue damage complaint- shoot a deer with a 30-06 loaded w/a 130gr Speer 130gr JHP bullet a 3100fpsI! My mounted 8-Pt showed no bullet entry or exit until the entry wound wa found under the left front foreleg when it was in an extended posture. No exit. I found the perfectly mushroomed bullet(not much more than the base) in the mid-neck off side. when we opened the body cavity it was all jello! All my 260 shots were static broadsides and about 6-8" behind the foreleg/centermass. All were DRT and IMHO not a meat loss issue. If you shoot them thru the shoulder it will F it up.