Well, I've never shot one but the one I handled didn't seem too hot. The basic 700s (ADL Synthetic) don't exactly reek of quality in every department and the 710 just seems that much worse. For an occasional hunter that's only going to sight the rifle in and shoot it a maximum of 10 times a year and be your only centerfire rifle, it would probably serve well for that. Anything more and you'll probably want to replace it as soon as you shoot pretty much any other rifle. I have seen the 710 combos as low as about $325 or so. Definately for $350.
For a bit more, you can get one of the Savage combo packages and the rifle itself will probably be much better overall. You can get a wood or plastic stock for a rifle like this, I'd be tempted to go for the plastic. Plastic stocks tend to be pretty flimsy but the wood stock very well may not be properly bedded or floated whereas the plastic one should be. The main complaint with the Savages is the trigger but again, to the casual hunter, it will probably serve very well. If you're mechanically inclined at all, you can probably adjust the trigger down to at least an acceptable level... ask here before you do this. You can also get them with or without iron sights. You should be able to get the rifle itself for under $350 and this leaves you $150 for a scope, mount and rings. Just get Weaver mounts and rings which should leave you $125 or so for a scope. There are several options but if you could stretch your budget just a little bit higher, you could get a Leupold VariX I 2-7 for $170 from Bearbasin's
www.clearanceoptics.com page that should last forever and if it doesn't, Leupold will make it right very quickly.
In my personal opinion, for about $50 more than the $500 you were planning on spending for the 710, you could have a much better rifle and a way way way better scope and that is the direction I would recommend you go.
Caliber selection is a personal one but the 30-06 has many ardent users. The Savage allows you to chose 243, 7mm-08, 308, 7mm or 300 Remington Short Magnum, 270, 7mm or 300 Winchester Short Magnum, 25-06, 270, 30-06, 7mm Rem Mag, 300 Win Mag, 338 Win Mag, 7mm Rem Ultra Mag or 300 Rem Ultra Mag. Whatever you want is there. If I were to get one right now, I'd be pretty tempted to get one in 270 or 300 WSM but there's nothing wrong with the old .30-06.
Rumor has it that the new AccuTrigger is going to be available on all Savage rifles soon, hopefully by the end of the year. Not sure if you'd be willing to wait but it is a pretty neat trigger that offers the capability of an excellent pull right out of the box. Might be a bit difficult for some shooter to adjust to but I think when they're available, I'll be getting my first Short Magnum rifle.
