My pics would be a savage or marlin bolt action, both are nice and very simular. The savage accutrigger would be nicer than a stock marlin though. Then would be the marlin model 60 semi auto. And if you are thinking lever gun take a look at the base model Henry .22. They should be around 200 bucks and are very nice guns. I had one and it had the smoothest action I have felt on a lever gun and was very accurate. Probably the most accurate .22 I have had out of the box. Of course I may have gotten lucky on that.

10/22's are nice, especially if you want to upgrade it, the options are limitless on what you can do to this gun. I'm not real fond of them out of the box for the money though. That is just a personal opinion though and nothing more.

I have owned all of the guns I listed at one time or another and all were good guns. The two bolt actions will most likely be the cheapest though. You could also go with a H&R/NEF single shot. Heck, you could get a over and under in 22/20 ga or something, that would be fun. Or Rossi makes some kits that come with a few different barrels. I'm not real fond of the quality on a Rossi though.

If I could pick any of the guns I listed to have again it would be the Henry. I really liked that little rifle. My dad has a marlin lever gun and it is very nice as well, however it cost twice what my henry did.

Paul