Gonna be in the market soon

With all these budget friendly guns hitting the market are any worth a dang? I'd say in the sub 500 category. Not wanting a super expensive gun as I'm trying to save for a custom but do need a new bolt action rifle.

my $$ would go for a Ruger American, VERY accurate, great trigger, great calibers, re; 7mm-08 and 6.5 Creedmoor.

If you will customize, I would get a Remington 700 short action (Academy) or Tikka for using the actions for your custom build.

This! I dont think there is a better sub $500 gun on the market.

Not going to customize this going to have someone build me one at some point.

If I were going for a sub $500 rifle, it would likely be a Ruger American.

Or the cheap Savage. Either one shoots lights out.

How long has the Ruger American been out? I'm starting to see alot of guns having success with this. I was holding out for a Tikka T3X in laminate but I may have to try out the Ruger.

Boyds makes a nice laminate stock for Ruger Americans. The stick RA stick isnt much in my opinion.

We were playing with one of the cheap $250 Savage rifles in 308 Win with some of the 168 and 185 VLD bullets. Seated out long, we were drilling steel plates out to 800 yards, and it was shooting good. The trigger was very rough, but it shot good.

Trigger is an easy fix. Just gonna be a hunting gun nothing special. Ruger American seems to be worth a look.

I'd probably vote for a Thompson Venture if you are looking for just a hunting rig that you don't plan to do any customizations for. They are super accurate and very affordable. In my opinion probably the most underrated and best value in an out of the box rifle on the market today.

As far as what I've owned in the past I've had the following

Thompson venture and yes very accurate
Had a ruger American when they first came out but wasn't all that impressed
Several savages and all would shoot

Not against anything just a lot of new guns hitting the market just need to scratch the itch til I can fully afford the custom route.

The Howa 1500 is just over $500. Very good rifle for the price.

I bought a new Tikka T3 light yesterday at Gebos in Breckinridge for $450.

If I could find that deal I'd be all over that.

Call Gebos. They are clearing their Tikkas. If they don't have one in their store they'll bring one in from another location. I bought a 243 and they still had 223, 22-250, and 308.

You can get a Vanguard S2 for under $500.00. That would be my choice going away. Second choice would be a Remington 700 ADL. It's just personal but I can't stand the extremely small loading port on the RAR, Axis and 783.

Savage would get my vote. Vanguard 2nd. I wasn't impressed with the Ruger trigger or fit/finish at all when I tried it out. Maybe I got a bad one.