I've turned my good buddy from a city guy to a dove shooting, varmint hutning, and now deer slayer....he purchased his first firearms last year, a shotgun, that he hunted with this past year.....now he wants to take a deer.  I said he could borrow or choose from the guns we have at the house but he wants to shoot a deer on our place with HIS rifle....YES! I say........
 
 He's getting it for Christmas and he's trying to find a good bolt action for under 350 bucks....he doesn't want an H&R....he wants a bolt, not a single...he went to the "pros" at Academy and they filled him so full of it, he had to buy chest waders on the way out....:).....
 
 He came home and was convinced that the smaller caliber you needed was a 7MAG and that bigger is better and is the only way to kill....I started cracking up and then recorrected his help by the "pros"....
 
 He wants an all around gun for deer as well as something to shoot some varmints with....he wants to shoot a fox someday, for some reason......I've told him to lean towards a .243, .2506, or of course a .260.....I think these calibers will serve him well as an all-purpose rifle for a beginning centerfire shooter...hopefully these will also leave out the flinch factor...
 
 So, I have covered all the bases on what manufacturer for him to look at and such...but just wanted ya'lls opinion on a gun maker for under 350....any suggestions so I can make sure I didn't miss and to see if anyone has fieldtested any models for this price....thanks ya'll....G

You know I gotta go with the Savage, or a used Rem Model 700.  Either of those ought to be in his price range.

Actually Glenn, both are a little out of the range.....the new Mossberg's have great reviews but are only offerred in .270 or '06......The more I think about it the more I'm going to tell him to go the Handi-rifle route.....the single shot will MAKE him place the first shot no matter what....

Glen;
The Savage/Stevens is enough under $350, he can add a scope.
However, I would never attempt to disuade some one from a single shot, especially a H&R Ultra or NEF Handirifle.
Too, with those you can get more barrels if you find any glaring gaps in your lineup, so far I have only found 5 gaps in mine that needed "fixing"!

I just went to Walmart, the best price on a SAVAGE, is $400, with a scope, the website does not show the Stevens, but I saw one in a Walmart store for $270 and I believe Carter in Houston had them about that price.
The difference is the Stevens does not have the new trigger.
I am even afraid to mention Champion as a place to shop.
Walmart has the Handirifles at $200 and the Ultras at $270, I believe, but they are ordered and sometimes take awhile.
You might call Bayou Arms in Cleveland and see what they have, the little store has a bunch of guns and reasonable prices, as am example, I got my .45-70 there for only $20 more than Walmart.
Good going on the propaganda and retraining program!
I just checked Savage, the Stevens does come in .25-06, but not .243 or .260.
The List Price is $329, so should be able to do better than that.

We just made the gunstore circle in CS here....found a Savage model 110 in .243 at Wally World for 349$ with some beautiful checkering...!!...tons cheaper than anywhere....hard to justify a H&R when you can get a beautiful Savage like that....he is in love with the stainless H&R's...I must admit....I like them as well...this is bad me looking all over at guns......

Hey Gmomey,
 
     It's not bad........................ no in any way unless you weaken that is! and hey it's almost Christmas :LOL
 
     Now sorry but I cannot see the attraction of the Handi Rifle. This year I have been lucky as I found and got a rather nice, seems hardly used, Parker-Hale 1200V (heavy barrel) in 6mm Rem for about $171 US and the Baikal MH18 single shot in .222 Rem for the same. All I need now is some brass for the 6mm and I can try to get out and shoot it.

I have been shooting the composite stock handi rifle in a .243 that my buddy has for the last week.THIS GUNS DRIVE NAILS!!and I cant believe how heavy it is for such a small gun.I held one with a wood stock and to my suprise it was lighter???This gun is short for my reach,but it doesnt effect my shooting from what I can tell.
 Single shot yes,but with a little practice I think you can rack another shell in almost as quick as you can chamber a bolt action.
  I love savage guns,but I held the new stevens model bolt action.When the bolt was back it felt like it was going to fall out of the gun.Very cheap,and loose feeling to me.
 Theres my two pennies worth!

Quote from: GmoneyHe came home and was convinced that the smaller caliber you needed was a 7MAG and that bigger is better and is the only way to kill....I started cracking up and then recorrected his help by the "pros"....

While I'm all for using enough gun for what you're hunting, seems nowdays that if you aren't using a 300 or larger mag for deer you're undergunned.  The calibers you mentioned will do a fine job.  May want to check used guns at the local gun shop and/or the online gun auction sites.  There's always a "steal" out there somewhere.