I have the opposite opinion of some of the "old standard rifles with tweaking and love" crowd. We live in the golden age of affordable functional and accurate rifles. The cheap Remington is a huge POS, the Axis rifles shoot but are a little rough and need tweaking but in order of preference with these rifles in 270 you are good to go for the next 25 years as a one gun hunter with a $500 budget.
Tikka T3
Weatherby Vanguard
Howa 1500
TC Venture
Ruger American Rifle
Savage 110 series
Remington 700
I believe all but the Remington have an accuracy guarantee so if you get a lemon you aren't stuck with it. The Massberg and budget Browning and Winchester may be fine but I don't have any experience with them.
Buy a set of Talley lightweight mounts and choose from the Burris FF2, Leupold VX2, Meopta Meopro or Zeiss Conquest or experiment with one of the new companies 3-9x 40 offerings and hit the range then the woods.
