I've got a Rem 581 and it is way more accurate than it has a right to be. Bought it for my son may years ago and it is still one of his favorite rifles.
However, the most underrated rifles I see are my Winchester 69A's and my Winchester 75 sporter. Built on the same actions, they are man sized rifles that shoot almost as well as my 52's, are much lighter even with a scope, and are just a joy to carry in the sage rat fields and squirrel woods. With a scope mounted the accuracy of these rifles is phenomenal. I don't shoot as well as I used to with aperture sights, but my 69's are a kick to shoot with the peeps. I can easily hit clay pigeons to 75 yards with apertures with them, much farther with the scope. The wood they put on these early Winchesters is also very nice walnut. I refinished a couple of them already after removing a number of layers of brushed on varnish and they look great.
You can usually pick the 69A's up at a LGS or Cabela's for $200-$300 or so in good shape.
Bob
