Any decent off the shelf hunting rifle is capable to do what you are asking, in term of caliber wise I would also consider availability of ammo in your neck of the wood and cost of ammo.
Also, is this a straight rifle for plinking or you might be hunt with it? Big game or small game only or both?
I saw you mentioned a package for around a thousand dollars so I assume you want to keep the running cost relatively low.
If this rifle is straight for plinking get 223 in the rifle of your choice since surplus ammo is dirt cheap and you can still use it for hunting small games / varmint but if the rifle might see some big games use I will seriously look at the 270 or 30-06 as ammo is cheap compare to other centerfire caliber and can be bought at almost anywhere which sells ammo.
The Savage option is a very affortable way to get started but I would invest some money to get some decent optics as those scopes come with the package might not be up to task if you are serious into the sport and be prepare to spend at least the same amount on scope as the rifle's cost if not more.
Another bonus is after you shot out the stock barrel you can easily get a barrel for Savage from EE and rebarrel to another caliber in the same cartridge family.
Also, is this a straight rifle for plinking or you might be hunt with it? Big game or small game only or both?
I saw you mentioned a package for around a thousand dollars so I assume you want to keep the running cost relatively low.
If this rifle is straight for plinking get 223 in the rifle of your choice since surplus ammo is dirt cheap and you can still use it for hunting small games / varmint but if the rifle might see some big games use I will seriously look at the 270 or 30-06 as ammo is cheap compare to other centerfire caliber and can be bought at almost anywhere which sells ammo.
The Savage option is a very affortable way to get started but I would invest some money to get some decent optics as those scopes come with the package might not be up to task if you are serious into the sport and be prepare to spend at least the same amount on scope as the rifle's cost if not more.
Another bonus is after you shot out the stock barrel you can easily get a barrel for Savage from EE and rebarrel to another caliber in the same cartridge family.
