Buckfever,
I don't have a lot of experience with the Grand Slams, but many will tell you that they are very good scopes, especially Jon from theopticzone.com, who is one of our sponsors.
I am a fan of Bushnell Elite 4200s, Nikon Monarchs, and Zeiss Conquests. All of them are excellent and you can't go wrong with any of these models. That said, I have a few of the Elite 4200s in 4x-16x, one with 50mm AOs, and two with 40mm AOs. These scopes should work great for your .223. The Nikon is about the same price, but doesn't have rainguard, and the Zeiss is pricier but has etched reticles.
As for a 3x-9x model for deer hunting, The Elite 4200 has a 2.5x-10x-40mm which is great, and Nikon has a Monarch in 3x-9x-40mm which is also great. The Monarch, however, is noticeably less and, in my opinion, a better value unless you think that you will really have a use for the rainguard feature. The Zeiss Conquest has a 3x-9x-40mm and it's optics are just as awesome. I own all three of these scopes and they are all great. You may want to see the prices on
www.theopticzone.com and then see the specs - i.e. length, weight, eye relief, FOV, etc. and choose which one you feel most comfortably with.
Zachary