Offroad-Express

I would go for a ruger 10/22, cheap enough, reliable and spares and upgrades very readily available.

22 is a great gun to start hunting with and what most people do start out on. you'll have alot of fun whacking bunnies and possum with that

plus you can pick up a brand new one from gun city scoped for 450 for the base model. and if you do ever want to get a new stock there is so many options for these guns.

as for a bigger gun I'm biast towards a 270 calibre as that's what I shoot. shoots well enough for deer and tahr. bought a second hand howa rifle with warne rings for 600 and put a leupold vx1 and its s great package for 1k

A really good stock that may be worth looking at is anything from BOYDS in america. I have 2 SS Evolution stocks on our ruger .22s they are awesome stocks and very well made. Bring them in rather than buying here and they arnt to badly priced but remember if you order more than one stock per order they cant ship it because of the taxs, and also if they did actualy ship it you would be stung with tax when it got here.

http://www.boydsgunstocks.com/product.h ... 4&cat=1214

google the norinco jw something 15, 17 whatever series they are up to (interesting to hear another person endorsing the 22 mag version) - its a brno model 2 copy cheap as chips and have a massive following. spend maybe a hundy on getting the trigger done etc and you have a 22 that is far more accurate than its price tag and you dont have to worry about giving the stock a ding etc. "We" had a win mod 70 270 that had 5 shots touching holes at 100m with 2 different muppets pulling the trigger and fact ammo

Personally I think a 270 is a mistake for your first high powered rifle, they kick like a bitch and make a hell of a noise. I would go for a 308 or 243 over a 270 anyday. Once you get used to a high powered rifle then get one. Great to use and I loved the one I used to own. Now have a 6.5 X 55 for a bush gun and for those long shots a 22-250 which is a 55 grain at 4000 fps with about 4 inch drop at 400m . Great for head shots at most distances. Mind you still love the shotgun with solids in the bush also, 6 inch grouping at 100 yards

blah dont fk around.. 7mm mag or maybe a 30 06.. its what i have and it'll knock them out as it flies past.. if you don't hit them.. Great for possums too well there not much left..lol
Also think about MOA.. mine is .5 MOA and just point and blast and it's over..
My 2 cents worth..lol