Everybody has given you good advice and Sheridan above has given you more specific caliber advice. As you get more into hunting, you will find that you upgrade a lot depending on what you're hunting, what kind of terrain, etc. If you end up like most of us, you'll get hooked and figure out that you "need" more than 1 rifle and scope, shotgun & even pistol for the different kinds of hunting that you decide to do. The more you get out and hunt, the more you'll figure out what else you need (likely more than 1 rifle and scope). If it helps on selecting your first rifle, figure out what game you're likely to hunt in the next 3-5 years and choose accordingly. You can always add another rifle as you expand the types of game you hunt.