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Laura, you would not go wrong with the Ruger, but there are many other options available. Please, if you will, tell us what the "mission statement" of the new rifle will be. There are different tools for different jobs and a general purpose tool will cover most of them, but not all or them.
Examples of "mission statements" and priorities to consider are;
Price of the rifle.
Price of ammo.
Availability of ammo
Use of factory ammo or handloads? (will you load them yourself?)
Hunting? If so, hunting what?
Target shooting? (if so would it be formal or informal. For formal you'll need extreme accuracy.
Range at which most shots will be taken?
For 50 yard competition a super accurate 22 LR is going to be the best bet.
For 1000 yard competition something with exceptional accuracy and high velocity with excellent down range characteristics is what you need
And so on and so on....
In most cases the “first rifle” is going to be a "general purpose" rifle, but “general purpose” is vastly different for someone living in New York City than it is for someone living in the center of Wyoming on a large ranch.
I hope I do not belabor the point, but I am only tiring to illustrate the fact that there are MANY things to consider.
A good 22 LR will be the cheapest to buy and to feed, and will be very enjoyable.
A 223 light weight will be a better choice for hunting coyotes
A CZ in 7.62X39 will do very well for hunting deer, is super light weight and shoots ammo that cost ½ as much (or less) than 223.
A light weight 260 Remington in one of the new Savage rifles is going to do well for you if you will be traveling around others states to hunt deer, hogs and even black bear if you use the right bullets (see note above about hand loaded ammo)
I hope this post helps you.
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