I really appreciate the help and advice that I am getting. It will be a very decicive factor in which rifle I end up with.

First of all I find when I buy a rifle it is usually one I've fallen in love with rather than a rifle I "really need".

Allow me to make some assumptions and correct me if I'm wrong.

Hunting white-tails "in the woods" you will mostly have shots at animals at 100 yards or less. 90% of the time? Many times you will have to get into action fast and may be shooting at a deer moving out in front of you. And a second shot may be needed as fast as possible.

So do you need a highly accurate long barreled bolt action with a powerful cartridge and a powerful scope? Say a Rem 700 in 7mm mag. with a 6Xscope?

Or would you be better off with a shorter barrel on a pump, lever action or semi-auto? Someting in a modest cartridge like .308, .300 savage, 7mm-08. A low power scope is, I think, better than iron sights. A low power variable like a 2 to 7 power would work great.
A Win. model 100 or 88 in .308 with a low power scope would be good for fast close in shooting(or a Savage model 99 or a Browning lever action) and could still handle the odd longer range opportunity out to 250 or maybe 300 yards. 300 yard shots actually are made far more often in print than they are in reality.

In the end though you will probably buy a rifle that you like the looks and feel of. And there is nothing wrong with that.

Robin

If you go with the Rem ADL comp you will need to adjust the trigger as soon as you can. With that said I do have one and once I took care of the trigger it shoots well and It will be around for years to come. BTW . . . .270 with a quality 130Gr and you can't go wrong.

The first rifle I bought 23 years ago was a Ruger M77 in 25-06 and have not had any problems with it. This rifle is used in conditions simular to what you expect to use yours. With 120g. bullets it will handle deer size game at 400 yards easily. If you drop to 85-90g. hollow pts. you have a good varmmit round.

Best of Luck with your Choice

Squirrely, If it were me, I would try to get the cheapest rifle that I liked, and then sink all the money I had left into a good scope to use on it. If you can't see it, you cant hit it.
As to the caliber question, all your listed choices are good. For maximum versatility the .30-06 is hard to beat.

You have your heart set on a scope? I need scopes at this point because of middle age vision stuff. At your age I would stick to iron peep sights. I would think a .270 would be a rip-snortin starter rifle, and Savages have a rep for accuracy. Just my viewpoint.

I am a .270 win fanatic and after hunting with many rifles over many years the .270 win in my opinion is the best, it has a much flatter trajectory than the rainbow of a 30.06 and it does anything a 30.06 can do. I do agree that you will need a good scope if you plan to shoot 300 to 400 yards as one said earlier if you cant see it you cant shoot it. Wal-mart has the Weatherby Vanguard for $300.00, you cant buy a better rifle for the money. Just my opinion.

I suggest you save some more money and buy a Weatherby Super Big Game Master. That rifle will last you forever.

On the caliber side, my recomendation will be a 7MM Mag. either Weatherby, Remington or STW

Good luck!

All good advice... I really like the .270 but would not recommend it because you can get the 30.06 in many different grain bullets for many different situations, the ammo is cheap and widely available. Since it is your first gun and you don't reload consider that.

Also Duffy makes a real good point... If you are going to have shots under 200 yards you could easily get away with a 7mm-08 or .243 and save yourself some shoulder pain... This is also important as you start to build bad habits shooting a heavy recoil gun. That is why most people start their hunting experiences with a .22.

Biscuit Jake suggest using open sights... I know that I would never have been able to hit my first buck with them... I got way to excited and looking through a scope calmed me down. Something to think about.

Also if you get a gun with a poor trigger, you should get it gunsmithed. Bad triggers lead to jerking and poor shots especially with us beginers.

As duffy said we ussually all "fall in love" with our guns!!! Enjoy whatever you get and shoot the snot out of it!

Save some money on the rifle and buy the savage, then spend that money you saved on a good scope. I think the 7mm rem.mag or 30-06 will do for anything you want to hunt in north america. If you want the ideal caliber for ALL north american game go with a 300win. mag.