The best advice I can give you regarding 22 LR rifles is stay away from the Remingtin 597. I repeat, stay away from the 597. Other than that the world is your oyster. Marlin makes some good shooting rifles in semi and bolt, Henry makes a nice little lever gun, Savage makes some good bolts and they make semi' s but I haven' t fooled with one yet. Probably your best bet is to pick up a Ruger 10/22. Yes they are accurate out of the box, but they are known for having a stiff trigger. That can be solved in about 15 minutes with a drop in kit. There is so much stuff out there for a 10/22 that it isn' t even funny. I just finished building a target rifle on a 10/22 action.