A little history, and some opinion, too...
Starting back about 100 years ago (damn thats a long time today, isn't it?) the best sporting bolt action rifles were Mausers from the prestige makers, and Mausers and Springfields from good custom smiths. Then came the Winchester 54, and a bit later the model 70, and the Remington 30. Yes, there were others, like the Newton, but in general the bolt gun buying public (which wasn't all that big at the time) would choose Mauser, Win or Rem.
After WWII, competition heats up and through the 50s several new rounds and some new rifles are introduced. Get into the 60s and the public sees Winchester (until the big change in the model 70 in 64) as prime, Rem's new 700 as fine, and is starting to notice Ruger by the early 70s. Savage plugs along, but their bolt gun line is not hugely popular, and is considered a "budget/bargin grade" bolt gun.
Winchester shot themselves in the foot (commercially speaking) when they redesigned the Model 70, and while the new rifle became a good gun, it had a rocky start. Remington's Model 700 wound up with the lion's share of the prestige and market for a long time. Its a good gun, and was offered in a huge number of calibers and several useful variations. Remington got police and military contracts and gave them a pretty good rifle. Nothing succeds like success.
The Ruger 77 held a strong 3rd place for some time, but fell short overall (rumor had it) due to the mediocre quality of their barrels. Individual guns could be quite accurate, but over all the nod went to the Remingtons.
Somewhere around 20 years ago, somebody at Savage really did some thinking, and around a decade ago it really began to show promise. A lot more care seems to be going into their barrels and other design changes (including the new trigger system) really changed the accuracy of the line.
Instead of being average to good, today's Savage bolt guns seem to be taking top spot for their accuracy. To me they still look homely as a mud fence, but they do shoot sweet, generally.
If you are looking for a varmint rifle or paper puncher, then special finishes, (and to a degree size and weight) are of little concern. How it shoots is the primary thing.
Quite different from a rifle that only shoot minute of deer, but one you can actually shoot minute of deer
with, after walking all day, and climbing that 3,000ft slope in 38 degree weather.
I recommend you study different cartridges, their performance (and their cost), before settling on a specific rifle.
Also a quick word about scopes. High power scopes are attractive, but not easy to shoot well with, at high power. For me, anything much above 9-10x and each beat of my heart makes them little lines jump around. And heat shimmer becomes a problem too. I have high powered (18-24x) variables on a couple of my varmint guns. Set 'em on low to look
for things, high to look
at things, and around 8-9x to actually make the shot. A higher setting actually makes it harder for me to make an accurate shot (field conditions). Your results may be different.
