Mitchell Gard:
I have owned multiple Winchester, Remington, Weatherby, Sako and CZ (and Ruger) rifles. I have not owned a Savage rifle. Any company can produce a good rifle, and a few defective one.
My first consideration is that I dislike proprietary rings or ammo. That fact renders Sako, CZ and Ruger as non-starters. Why? Simple. Imagine being 500 miles from home, you drop your rifle with proprietary rings, damage them. Try getting those at Meijer or K-Mart. Most likely even the larger chains won't stock them. They were good, but.
I also prefer USA-made given the economy, I now demand USA-made. Again, Sako and CZ are out there as well. Weatherby Vanguard is now out (Japan).
I prefer a one-piece bolt. Savage and Remington are now out. I also dislike Remington's anemic extractor. I have broken more than a couple, one in the field, after the first shot was fired. Fortunately I made a 300 yard, 1-shot-kill. My M700 Police is wonderful, and I use it for varmint or target.
This leaves us with Winchester. Do a search of my name and Super Grade and you'll see they ticked me off for sending out a pathetically defective M70 Super Grade. Shameful. At best the customer service rep was rude. They nearly lost my business. The company replaced the rifle with a new one, and it is awesome. I also bought a M70 Stealth. Great rifle.
The current M70's are accurate, one-piece bolt, forged barrels, have claw-extractor and the ejector...forget about it!!! Watch that brass fly.
Get yourself new M70, a Leupold scope, and solid bases/rings. Check Federal Premium ammo for hunting, and pick up a reloading book. It's simple.
Post some pictures of your purchase.
Geno