I'd go the pawn shop route and buy a quality used rifle. It should be simple to find one in 30-06.
If a budget synthetic is in the cards, I'd try to find one of the recently discontinued Marlin XL7s. I have a couple of XS7s and both are extremely accurate, as accurate as my custom rifles. They also "feel" like a higher quality rifle than any of the RARs I've handled.
You may get recommendations for the Savage Axis, but to me it is the ugliest of the budget rifles out there. I've handled them and the only rifles, to me, that feel cheaper are the Rem 710/770s. They are probably accurate though.
