If you read these or other forums for more than a year or two it becomes clear that most people have a tendency to recommend a chambering thats.... well putting it lightly, OVERKILL! Way more than whats needed to decently do an adequate job for the task at hand. Some use the excuse "just in case" or "someday you can deer hunt in another state" to justify their personal choice or recommendation. Personally I feel a calling rifle is different from a varmint rifle and both are far from a big game rifle. They are all tools for specific jobs.
There are people who need to choose a single rifle and dont have the means to own more than that. Fine go for it. For the most part nearly everyone will at some point have more than a single rifle. Several in fact, as a 243 doesnt make a good varmint rifle, recoil is too high and its a horrible choice for volume shooting. Likewise a 223 doesnt make a good deer rifle, not even legal in many states anyways.
Those starting out shouldnt need to buy more than what the task at hand requires. I feel advise to the contrary isnt all that good. This poster said woodchucks and coyotes, nothing was mentioned by him about deer or calling in dangerous game, everyone else embellished on that. I would still bet to this day more coyotes are killed by a 223 than anything else. Because of their wide use and popularity maybe everything else combined, who knows.
There is a whole world of shooting enjoyment out there that most will never see because of their tendency to over gun. Its really too bad too, their missing out... big time.
Civil enough?