Hey Bowhunter and welcome to the forum.
Your question is a good question and deserves a good answer.
As is - if I was going to sell you a new automobile, so it is with buying your first rifle. If a person has a large family, he would need to buy a large automobile or a mini van. If a person is a single person - he can buy a two seater Corvette if he wants.
That is how it is with buying a rifle.
You want to buy the right rifle to do the job. I don't think that anyone here has asked you yet what you want to do, or where you want to do it.
If all you were going to hunt was Whitetail deer in Florida, about all the rifle you would ever need would be a .243 Winchester.
If you were going to hunt Alberta Whitetail deer, you might want a 30-06 or a .300 Winchester Magnum.
For a Florida deer, a .270 Winchester would be about the largest - most powerful gun that you would want to use.
My opinion is - if all you have is $500, you are better off to find a used gun shop and find a nice used gun over buying a brand new rifle and a cheap scope. There are some real good deals out there right now if you know where to look and what to look for.
If a person could find a used - (pre 1980) Model 700 Remington or a used Model 70 Winchester rifle - they would be better off in my opinion to buy it over buying a brand new rifle.
I would suggest that you do some research on each caliber that you was thinking about buying before you buy it.
You don't need a Magnum caliber to hunt a little old small whitetail deer.
Any gun in the area of a .300 Savage, 308 Winchester, .270 Winchester, .243 Winchester, 25-06 would all be a good choice for what you want to do.