Too open ended. When I got my first rifle, I handled several in a gun shop and did a mental coin toss. I later sold that because it was a bit much for my first or for deer. Weight and caliber. Then I did have deer hunting as a specific goal. The OP has NO GOAL, or stated purpose other than owning a bolt actions. Stay away from odd ball rounds like 22 hornet, bee zipper, what ever.

What I like? For small, easy to shoot, cost of ammo, good ammo selection and good looks. CZ527 carbine or american in 223. Mount a medium size (aka practical) size scope like a 3-9x compact or worse case a 4-12x. Another way to go is cz527 in euro varmint for a heavier gun to shoot at the club of for actual long hours of varmint shooting and that can be topped with a 6-18x. Again the 223 is a good round to enjoy and be used to good effect.

Next up is the deer rifle and here I like rounds like 7mm-08 first choice, and 6.5mm second. Th 243 is a sweet first deer rifle and a nice step up from 223 while still mild and pleasant for a first gun. All these are what I call, medium length actions. In this space I like Tikka with a wood stock. Or your taste might run toward Tikka in synthetic. Winchester is a bit haevy in this class of ctg. The Howa is not to my taste. The CZ is also a bit heavy in the mediums. I love Kimber and certain Sako (carbon fiber) if you have the budget. The big problem is we dont know what you want this rifle for. If you do not hunt then you are free to select a little heavier gun and then CZ and Winchester offers some seriously good looking rifles. I dont care so much for Remington these days. Savage seems ok, but again, not crazy about the looks. There is that 308 at cabelas that everyone raves about out. They all shoot.

Moving up is 30-06 and larger (375HH) and here the various Winchester M70 really stand out as appropriate in weight and good Japanese quality. I dont think these bigger guns are a good place to start. Same with the 98 in 06. Too much gun. I own various Model 70 from New Haven (control feed) and Japan - great guns.

Last step in the progression is the CZ550 magnum that can be had in 375HH up to 505 Gibbs. A non starter for a first bolt rifle.

Funny about price, if you can only afford ONE good one, then you could afford two less costly rifles like savage. What is good? Functional or does style enter into the picture at all? And what is style? This is an impossible post to deal with.

I go back to the beginning. Caliber 223 , rifle CZ527. There will be no regrets.

For a little bigger with 'possible' hunting later, 7mm-08, 6.5cm or 243 in Kimber or Sako (or Tikka). One gun will not do it all. You need to decide if you are going to carry this all day or shoot at a club. A rifle that is 'good' for everything is really good for nothing. That concept died in the 1960's