Low Cost, High Quality Rifle

[bschliem]

Disregard this post.  Please DELETE this if you could. I am sorry.

[gitano]

Welcome to THL Bschliem. (Is that a random selection of letters?)
 
Yours is a perennial question, and you're not likely to get any answers here or any other place, that will give you the difinitive answer... because there isn't one.
 
The relevant fact as I see them are:
 
You have a better selcttion of good rifles to choose from today than has ever been offered. That means that it would be very difficult to make a "bad" decision, so don't worry about that. High quality rifles can be had for considerably less than $1000 dollars. Find one that appeals TO YOU and get it.
 
If you are in a "shotgun area", you seriously don't need an "Utra magnum", a "magnum", a "short magnum" or even a "super short magnum". Since you are "new" to calibers above .22, and especially since you are "used to" the effect that "big around" (and it doesn't get much bigger around than a shotgun slug), I would urge you to consider a "larger" rather than "smaller" caliber. I wouldn't recommend anything less than .30 caliber, and would recommend well above that.
 
At the .30 caliber end, I would argue strongly for the .308 Winchester. It's a tried and true cartridge and more than capable for anything in "shotgun country". In fact, it's just fine for deer to 400 yds (although that's a bit long for my tastes with ANY caliber), and can hold it's own to 300 for the likes of elk and moose.
 
However, up from .30 is going to put game - expecially deer - on the ground faster. Of course there's no faster than falling-right-down, but falling-right-down will happen more often with a bullet that's bigger around. So... the 8x57 would be an excellent choice, but I'd be willing to bet dollars-to-donuts that you would place that cartridge near last on your choices, so next of the common choices would be the .338 Federal. It's a .338 caliber bullet on the .308 Win case. It's new, but it's a good cartridge.
 
In that same vein, going up in caliber, is another excellent cartridge, the .358 Winchester, which is the .308 Winchester necked up to .35 caliber. This one is approaching the obsolete category, and if you're not a handloader, will be difficult to get ammo for. Which brings up the .35 Whelen which is experiencing a bit of a resurgence these days, and it's easy to find rifles chambered in this cartridge and ammo is readily available. It is the .30-06 necked up to .35 caliber. In my opinion, probably the best choice given the starting point you gave.
 
Next would be either of the new .375 cartridges - the .375 Ruger, and the .376 Steyr. Both are excellent cartridges, but ammo is expensive for both, and the Ruger is likely to win the commercial sales battle.
 
Finally up are the "big bores". Iif you go to the 'modern cartridges', price of rifles and ammo goes up, fast, with bullet diameter. All of the "modrn ones" are unnecessarily large for your requirements. HOWEVER... if you go with cartridges that are traditionally "black powder" cartridges, you can have a lot of fun. Probably the the number one "new" "old" cartridge is the .45-70 Government. Lots of lever guns chambered in that today, and ammo is inexpensive (it can also be stupidly expensive) and easy to come by. The beginning of the Coubay Action Shooting (CAS) game has made lots of "big bore" cartridge guns and ammo available. This could be good selection, but probably as likely to get chosen as the 8x57.
 
With regard to:

2)Do I need two seperate rifles to suit my needs or is there one gun to do both??

Contrary to what many will erroneously tell you, one size DOES NOT fit all. Get the tool for your specific need.
 
Also a word to the wise. Beware of recommendations for "premium" anything - be it cartridge (RUM), bullets (as in "premium bullets"), or optics. All the "old" cartridges are just fine, and "ultra magnums" (or any other "magnum for that matter), aren't necessary... all the currently available bullets are excellent game bullets... and you can easily spend WAY too much on 'scopes. Caveat emptor.
 
There... there's your first "unbiased" (hardly, I am seriously biased) opinion from someone that's "not your friend".
 
Rememeber, keep it fun. There are precious few "wrong" decisions to make with respect to choosing a rifle maker. If you find yourself 'stressed', you're thinking too hard.
 
Bon chance,
Paul