Man, gun people are so serious. Riots happen, as they did in London, but rice and WD-40 generally don't help. Or answer the poor guy's question.
So to answer the question...
1) Figure out what you want to DO with your rifle. Hunt? Target shoot? Climb a clock tower and make a political statement?
2) Figure out what rifles will do that.
3) Get the one you like.
There aren't really entry-level rifles. There are cheap pieces of crap that you want to avoid, but don't waste your time with some phallic-compensation elephant gun.
However I think what you're really asking is what rifle to learn to shoot with. Hopefully this will help.
If you're learning to shoot, what you need is to get a lot of rounds down-range - this matters WAY more than the rifle. First, learn the principles of marksmanship. Then get a half-decent .22 long bolt action with an adjustable iron peep sight and hit the range. Yes, REAL men will laugh at you with your popgun compared to their custom 30-06 with the 10x scope, the bipod, the built-in water purifier and all. However they will not outshoot you when you're cranking out a thousand rounds a week. Even if you can afford this with .30-06, the learning curve will be steeper with fullbore. Why make it hard?
Once you have your rifle, practice the principles of marksmanship at home, just getting used to getting into position, getting a sight picture and releasing the round (obviously don't do this with live ammo!) Find a range where you can shoot from sixty feet, it's less macho than a hundred metres, but it will let you get more groups done in less time. Get a spotting scope (not a rifle scope!) and a notebook. Put up ten-target paper, get in the prone and start shooting groups. Fire a group of five, mentally noting any flaw in your technique for each round, check results with the scope, make WRITTEN notes for EVERY ROUND about what technique flaws (or triumphs) led to what result. Your notebook should look like this.
Day: 12 Aug 11
Conditions: Sunny and clear, 32, no wind.
Group #1
1. Position was good
2. snatched trigger, went high and right.
3.
4.
5. position shifted, went right.
Group #2
etc.
Just keep doing this until lunch. Then do it more after lunch. Then do it more after supper. Then go home and come back the next day. You'll quickly learn what a good shot feels like, and to correlate errors with results. When you get good at groups look into shot plotting, wind and temperature adjustment, other positions and more advanced stuff. If at all possible get a coach, but there are many more bad coaches than good ones, so if your coach deviates very far from the above plan, get another one. Above all, fire a thousand rounds a week, and do it every week for a year. If you can shoot more, do it. For .22 long this will cost you about $2000 in ammo, plus a couple of hundred for the rifle, which is a far better plan than investing $2000 in a rifle and a couple of hundred in the ammo for it. You will end the year a very good shot indeed.
At this point, you can go out and get any rifle you like, and it will do what you want it to.
And always remember! Guns don't kill people, irresponsible gun owners kill people.
