RE: Good Rifle for under $500?
I just went through a very similar search. My preferences, in order:
Remington M700 SPS
Tikka T3 Lite or Hunter
Ruger M77 MkII
Weatherby Vanguard
Howa 1500
Savage 111 or 116
The Remmy is a really nice rifle for the money...tough to beat at about $465 with matte blue finish. I got the stainless version in 7mm-08 for $517 out the door.
The Tikka is pretty light and will kick harder with the larger cartridges. Accurate, great trigger and barrel, though.
Ruger is coming out with a new model to replace the existing one, so you may be able to find some nice closeout prices soon.
The Weatherby Vanguards are really nice...almost all are tackdrivers right out of the box.
The Howa is the same thing as the Weatherby with a different name...
The Savage guns are very acurate, too. If you like the Accutrigger, they may be the best thing going. If you don't (like me), they're still pretty nice.