Thanks for all the suggestions! The Ruger Hawkeye is a cool gun. I've only owned a push-feed rifle, so just running the action on a Hawkeye is kind of fun. There's a wood-stocked 270 Hawkeye at a local gun store that my wife always says is "pretty." I'm always pleased with my one-inch groups with my Howa (it might be normal to you guys but I feel proud of myself every time), so I'm hesitant to purchase a rifle that will cause me to doubt my abilities by being less accurate. Whether it's fair or not, the overwhelming impression I get with the Ruger is that it's "accurate enough for hunting" but not to expect much more than that.
As far as the calibers go, the 30-06 is appealing. I've shot 30-06 rifles before and wasn't left traumatized. I've never shot a magnum of any kind - I will need to make some magnum-shooting friends and see if I'm man enough!
