New guy needing help on first gun

There has been some recommendations for some quality rifles that are accurate and have good features and customer service. I come back to my point if you are going to do small game hunting particularly squirrel you want a light and short rifle. Add a scope and bi-pod and sling to a rifle that already starts off at around eight pound and you will get tired of lugging all that weight around. Add that some of these rifles are well over 40"'s in length and you will be snagging and catching a lot of brush as you make you way through the woods. I do like bull-pups too for hunting as they are shorter and while some may weigh in above 7 lbs. that weight is carried close to you body so they don't feel as heavy. Looks are secondary to function and performance in my air rifle so while say a Taipan Mutant short may look strange to some but it fills the function and performance aspect so I would consider it for your use. Since I mostly hunt with all my air rifle I like synthetic stocks so I don't worry as much about rough treatment in the field. That is one drawback of the beautiful Daystate Huntsman Regal stock and worrying about scratching it up in the field. That is why I like many of the rubberized synthetic stocks like FX and some others make. More food for thought. Good luck Bill
 
I think Bill is right on that one. My Marauder is long (40 inches) heavy, and with a bi-pod, even heavier. Lugging that around hunting would require lots of energy. As a bench gun it's great, but weight and length aren't issues.

Unfortunately, don't have a good recommendation, but I am saving for an FX Impact (someday). It's a touch over your budget, but has the advantage of for a mere $430 you can by a new barrel, and change the gun caliber. One gun, 4 barrels, but a huge investment up front.

Good luck as you can't go wrong with so many of the guns out there now.