as mentioned, "a rifle" is pretty subjective,,, some will swear by a bolt gun, & I'm quite sure if you held a 70-80's Remington 700 with nice wood, & deep blue, jeweled bolt, ebony tip & grip cap, you'd fall in love... but then there's those that say get a lever gun... you hold that thing in your hands & envision John Wayne, or pic a newer western... I added a leather butt cuff & shell holder with my intials, & a set of fiber optic sights, & my stainless 45-70 guide gun is as nice a gun as you could want... oh! wait! my fancy wood / blued & engraved 357 magnum lever gunis as nice a gun as you could want... but wait !!! that fully outfitted AR with the milspec sights & tactical light... Ahhh... you get the picture... all are very fine rifles, & without being diagnosed with multiple personalities, I can say I love them all... ( & I didn't even mention my custom single shots, which are some of my favorites
)
I guess I'm saying they are like Lay's potato chips, you can't have just one...
if you would like the option of deer hunting with this 1st gun, sound like pistol caliber rifle is what you are after ( or at least straight wall cases ???
BTW... when I 1st started dating my wife, & my FIL started grooming me to take over his collection, it was suggested I buy one versitile handgun, rifle, & shotgun, & I could borrow anything needed that those didn't cover... my 1st rifle was a stainless composite Ruger M-77 bolt action in .243... sad that now that my FIL is gone, & we have his gun collection, I rarely shoot that 1st gun, only because I've conceided to buying "a lot" more... I'd still stand by the fact, that a bolt action .243 is one of the most versitile around... though I would have to add, that if I were doing it today, it would be chambered in 7-08 ( which was not a standardized cartridge, meaning you couldn't buy factory ammo, back then )
... & BTW... you load bullets into cartridges...
