TH3180 wrote: Talk about a gun that will set you in your place.
Well, if the recoil from a 270 got your attention, you need to keep that in mind if you ever move up to 30 caliber or beyond, particularly if you go with one of the big magnum cases. Thankfully, muzzle brakes have come into their own in the last decade, and there is NO reason that you need to own a gun that isn't fitted with one. There are gunsmiths that can fit them to existing guns, so you don't have to shop exclusively for a gun that comes from the factory with a brake on it. The recoil reduction is huge, although you have to get used to the fact that the gun will still START to come back on you just as hard. Then all of a sudden the gun pretty much stops dead, so it's like a stage punch from a professional wrestler. Looks like you got the snot punched out of you, but a second later you discover you're still standing there in one piece and feeling fine.
Remington 700's are pretty much the de facto standard for a lot of SWAT teams and snipers, so you really can't go too far wrong with one of those. As far as the best kept secret is concerned, Savage rifles are known buy a lot of shooters as being capable of an unholy degree of accuracy.