First rifle

Maybe a M48 Yogo mauser or a Ishiapore 7.62 enfield. Plenty of surplus ammo around and you could hunt with it as well and would be well below your price, assuming you like old rifles. you would have to be more selecive with you ammo choice for hunting with the ishy though.

I've got a Remington 700 in .308. It's a good start in to the rifle arena. It's not too expensive and .308 is widely available in many different loadings. With a 700 you can certainly put together a decent scope / gun combo within your price range. A friend of mine has a Winchester M70 in .243 WSSM and I find it to be more accurate and recoil more pleasant than the 700. Good luck.

First rifle EVER or first target rifle?

First rifle EVER ... .22 bolt or semi.
Ruger, Marlin, CZ, etc. I learned a .22 marlin single shot.
For $60 off gunbroker you cannot go wrong.
Learn to shoot that perfectly and the rest will take care of itself.

As for the target stuff, the guys here know more about that then I.

my .02 FWIW
GP

For a rifle for deer and target I would look at savage and ruger bolt actions. Both have fine reputations. As for caliber for those purposes I would look into .243 win, 7-08 rem, .308 win, and .30-06. The .243 will be the nicest too shoot from the bench, and will have plenty of power for deer. Anything more powerful then .30-06 will kick too much for most to enjoy much target shooting with it, also with your budget of 500-700 include the cost of a scope. Don't go cheap on your optics. A good 3-9 scope will run you about 200.

oh ... hehe sorry...
there's been a few "my first rifle ever-I want an elephant gun" posts recently.
I just ordered a rem 700 SPS tactical in .308 -- buggers on back order though and taking forever. But I can't wait...those come in .308 and .223
I got mine in .308 so I can go elking with it, but also shoot long range, and mebbe go prairie doggin.
But there may be better options out there for ya then what I did, I'm sure the guys here have some wonderful ideas for ya.
GP

Willy

The 223 is plenty accurate in a lot of rifles and unles you are looking toward hunting deer or something larger I would stick with the 223. It is cheap to shoot and reload for. By target rifle I am going to assume that you mean something with a heavy barrel and Varmint/Bench rest style stock. I will not bash any of the other brands like Remington, Ruger and, Winchester, I have owned them all, some good, some not so good. I now only own Savage rifles. I currently have seven of them. I have two in 223 though I have not fired the second one. I am currently in the process of finding the right scope for it. I bought my first Savage BVSS in 223 about 13 years ago and it has been an unending source of pleasure for me since. This gun is a sub half MOA shooter all day long, even when hot. It regullarly turns in 5 shot groups that go closer to the 1/4'' mark. My 220 swift is almost as good. If I have a rifle that will outshoot the 223 it would have to be one of my Savage VLPs in 204 Ruger. The first of the two started shooting sub 3/8" shot groups with my first reloads. The second is still an honest half inch gun though I am sure that it will do better. I have one in 22-250 that was just rebarreled to that caliber and another in 25-06 that I have yet to shoot. My experience tells me that is just easier to get a Savage to shoot well than any other gun out there. Usually, it is simply a matter of finding the right load. I have also found that my guns aren't real ficky about what you feed them either. Even with CHEAP surplus ammo (13 years ago) my 223 shot sub MOA groups.
A new BVSS will run around $600 and the VLP will cost closer to $700. If your budget has to include the price of the scope I would look around on Gunbroker and check the Classified sections. I have bought most of my rifles used and have been extremely happy with them. My first 204 VLP cost me $500 at a gun show with a Weaver 2x10 scope on it which I later sold for $135. The Second 204 VLP cost me $450 off of Gunbroker, private sale. My 25-06 came from Gunbroker as well for $450. Also check out the classified section at the varmints den.

Target rifle for what? 100 yards? 200 yards? 300 yards? 1000 yards? Tactical? Competition? Load testing? Personal best paper punching? Hunting load developement?

WAY too many open questions to make a valid recommendation.

Excellent. Figure out what you will be hunting in the future to get a grasp on which caliber to go with. For deer sized game I am a huge fan of the .25-06. This round can be amazingly accurate at long range as well.

Then go and find which model of Savage rifle you would like. Probably the best bang for the buck rifles made. Have a reputation for great accuracy and are cheaper by far that a similar Remington or Browning. You can choose a sporter weight, mid weight or heavy weight... whatever you think you will be comfortable humping around the woods with.

THR would you recommend me a good rifle for target shooting. I am leaning toward the Remington 700, but i am not sure which model to get.

Also which caliber should i get (maybe for future deer hunting). Thank you.

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If the deer hunting was not part of the picture I would recommend one of the 700s in .223. I picked one up last month - 700 SPS Varmint at Dick's on sale for $479 and there was $30 rebate too. I never shot a new rifle as accurately as I have this SPS. I will have to admit to upgrading the stock to a HS Precision but the rifle should still shoot even with the plastic stock.

I used to own a 700 VLS in .223 although they would probably exceed your budget. A nice laminated stock. But kind of pricey these days.

Both of the above are available in .308 too which would work for deer. The 700 SPS Tactical is available in both .223 and .308. Although it seems the .308 version is hard to get at the moment. I have the 700 LTR which is kind of like the SPS Tactical but with the HS Precision stock and barrel fluting. This is the most accurate factory rifle I have ever shot but they have risen in price quite a bit - the SPS Tactical is still in the $500+ range.

I picked up a Savage 12BVSS in .223 and it has moments of outstanding accuracy but it does not take long at all to foul. I may just install a match barrel later. One of the great Savage features is easy barrel/caliber changes.

Should I get a .223 caliber?

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Not if you want to hunt deer with it. Besides being illegal in a number of areas, it's just not particularly well suited to deer. Sure it can be done, but...

Look at a CZ 550 in 6.5x55. Very accurate and potent enough for deer. The CZ also comes with a single set trigger.

If, you like the remington then go for the 700sps-goes for under 500 at the discounters; 7-08 is a great flat shooting round for target; soft kick, plenty of ammo available and more than enough for whitetail. Invest in a decent scope (leupold, Nikon etc.-stay away from the cheapos). The whole rig shouldn't be more than $700