you got some good ones there and any would work and well but i still think the 06 if its your only rifle for the reasons you mentioned. welcome to the club
i think i'm with hm on this point. i'd rather buy a used 700 or ruger 77, than a new lesser rifle, like the 710 or the mossberg. my neighbor bought a 700 bdl in 308 for $350 with half decent glass on it. heck of a deal. so these guns are out there. there is a reason they are cheaper. the old adage "you get what you pay for" definitely applies here. do they work? most of the time. do they hold their value? nope. do they use half decent glass? not in my opinion. that said if thats the best you can afford then thats the best choice.You should be able to locate a remington model 700 and a scope (used in great condition) for $500.
Could that lever action .270 be a Browning BLR perhaps? Does it have a detachable magazine?Have a Savage model 111 in .270 and it works great on deer here in Texas. My father-in-law used a lever action .270 (forgot manufacture and model) for decades in the mountains above Boulder for anything from deer to elk. He still has that rifle and it's in great shape. Would hate to be on the other end of that thing if he ever got mad at me for marrying his daughter<grin>(even though we celebrated 30 yrs together this week).
That's true here, too, Ronn. You can get used stuff at gun shows for a wide range of prices, but for new guns, the local shops usually have better prices, and if you do your shopping ahead of time and know what you want, occasionally you can get a real smokin' deal when the shops have sales. I've done this several times as one of the shops always has big reductions in prices around Christmas and the end of the year. One deal, in particular, was a $1400 Benelli shotgun that I got for just a little over $1000.the gun shows i've been to, around here, the guns are cheaper at the shop, which is strange no doubt. whats that new tc that i saw advertised reminded me of the sps line.
My mistake on the caliber. After thinking about it for a while (and verifying in the Blue Book), it's a Savage Model 99 in .300 Savage.Could that lever action .270 be a Browning BLR perhaps? Does it have a detachable magazine?