I need a new deer rifle and I have pretty much decided to get a 7mm Rem Mag. I just need help deciding on which brand of rifle and scope to get. I also have a budget of $500-$600 for the rifle and scope. I prefer a bolt action repeater with a wood/blued finish.

I hate to tell you this but if your buying a new rifle it's going to be around $500 for the rifle alone. I just bought my son a new youth model Remington 700 and scope and dropped $850. Of course I could have spent a little less on the scope but figured it would last for years and wanted his first deer gun to be decked out. I would say a minimum for a quality scope would be around $250 and figure in another $30 or so for rings and bases. If your not planning on using it for this year you might consider waiting until you can come up with a little more cash.

You could buy a howa rifle with scope for that price then buy a better scope when you have the money.Take a look at www.legacysports.com

Take a look at Savage rifles. They are affordable, reliable and accurate. May not be as pretty as some of the others but are you going to look at it or shoot it? Also I would look at the used rifles and if you wait until after hunting season the shops should be full of good choices at reasonable prices. Last spring I picked up a Ruger 77 Mk II All Weather in 270 Win for less than the blue book on a blued model.

Is a Savage a good quality rifle?

Where are Howa's made? Other than the legacy website where else can we find info on them??
The whole problem with buying guns is that you don't get to "test" them. Buy it and it might not shoot very well at all. Gun A from gunmaker X might shoot tacks, but identical gun B might be lucky to have 3moa. Notmuch you can do about it other than putting more money into it, or trying to pawn it off on someone else.
At least with bows you can ususally shoot some arrows through them before plopping down your wad of cash.
Does anyone have a solution to this? Tikka and Weatherby have guarantees on accuracy, maybe we should purchase those rifles until other companies have the same policy???

Savage Are good rifles. Durable low cost and accurate. Another way you could go is the Remington 700 ADL synthetic. I bought one of these with a 3x9 Leupold VX 1. for 578.00 + tax.

I use a Savage and love it. .308

Yes, that's why I recommend it. I have three of them myself.

I have narrowed it to two. The Ruger and the Savage.