Some rifles not available in some cartridges.
Example: I'd love a Ruger #1 A in .35 rem. They never made it in that.
So what rifle do you fancy?
Long action or short? Auto, pump, bolt, falling block, break open, lever?
Are you going to handload or just use factory ammo, if the latter...........do you mind paying a bit more for the lesser popularity stuff?
Example: .300 Savage vs .308 win.
You can go economy rifle or full blown custom, or anything in between
.243 win, .260 rem........
My 700 ADL in .243 win wears a Leupold VX1 3-9X.
My Ruger #1 RSI in .243 win wore a Leupold M8 4X
My Remington 760 in .35 rem wears a Leupold M8 4X compact
My Contender Carbine wore a Leupold 2-7X
Now..........I did have a decent buck at 250 yards, when I went prone w the RSI.
Used to be a fence out there, and they took it out. Was waiting for him to cross it.
Never did. If he had he'd have been dead.
You don't need a lot of X's to hit your mark. In fact F&S magazine did some test thing, said most folks do better with less mag.
A fixed 6X seems to be popular for longer range deer hunting.
IMHO the scope has to compliment the rifle, in size and shape.
Life is too short to hunt with an ugly setup.
Used to hunt groundhogs as a kid w a 3-9X AO Leupold on a ,243 win.
300 yards was no big deal.
Deer bigger than chucks.
Might be nice to clang steel w your deer rig, so maybe a higher mag scope may be of dual purpose (4-12X ?)
If going with .243 win or similar, you might have a dandy varmint rifle too.
There more mag and an adjustable objective are probably a good idea.
Had a 4-12X AO for a decade on my 700. No chucks around, just yotes now, and wanting it possibly for backup deer rig.............I went back to a 3-9X.
I still shoot .75" groups with it at 100 yards off the bench.........same as I did w 12X.
Will admit if I was to test for accuracy, I'd rather have the 12X.
Makes seeing holes in the paper easier, and minimizes aiming errors.
New guy at work, got his first deer, 50 yards or so, field edge stand............left his scope at 9X the whole time.
Said it was tough, but he got him.
If you have a high mag scope, and don't pay attention, you'll probably get burned on a close one, by having it cranked up.
Kind of why some folks like a fixed 6X.
If Murphy never visits your deer camp.............you can run dang near anything LOL