.223 or .243

[Chapuis]

I may be wrong, but isn't .243 the minimum deer-legal calibre in E&W? Hence a decision on what you want the rifle for.

Not quite Iain as Milicer has already pointed out you can use a .22 c/f for muntjac and CWD in England and Wales and the minimum calibre for larger deer is actually .240", though in practical terms that usually results in a .243win being chosen.

Until the law actually changes the OP will have some difficulty obtaining suitable non expanding .243win ammunition for target shooting unless you reload. In addition to that .243win is considered to be overbore and will burn barrels if used to shoot long strings of rounds quite rapidly. It's not a problem when sport shooting where only a relatively small number of rounds are shot over the life of the rifle but target shooting with a .243win would be advised against so I would suggest that a .223rem would be the better option in this instance.

[Sim G]

Some of the best target bullets around are in 6mm (.243) thanks to Benchrest. .243 Winchester was winning sections of the Snipers Hide cup over 10 years ago. An AI version will see the same velocities with a little less pressure. Both come with less recoil than 30s, 7mm's or the plethora of .264s.

And the "new cartridge" being touted on some US boards as the "tactical" panacea? 6mm Creedmoor!!!

But yes, barrel life does seem to be an issue for the .243s.