Congrats on the deer, but I wouldn't use a 55 grain V-max on deer. Unless you get a perfect broadside heart/lung shot, you might have problems. The V-max is an explosive bullet. The 64 grain Winchester PP is a good choice, as is the Nosler partition, or the Barnes all copper bullet. The one and only whitetail I took with a .223 was using the Win. PP load, and it worked well.

Larry