Caliber choices for Bolt action Carbines

[pathfinder]

I had my heart set on a CZ 527 carbine in 7.62x39 until I saw a ruger 77/44 in stainless with a synthetic stock.  I like the CZ trigger better and the accuracy is great, but I like the sites, stock, magazine.. on the Ruger.  I'm not sure how well it groups.

I'm looking for a good brush gun in a versatile caliber (hunting loads down to reduced plinking loads).  Living in the pacific northWET I appreciate synthetic stocks and stainless.  Accuracy is high on the list for me.

Recommendations for carbines/calibers to consider?

Thanks!

[CEJ1895]

pathfinder - The Ruger is a good rifle as is the CZ but I've heard that the magazine on the ruger limits the overall cartridge length if you hand load. A buddy of mine has the Ruger 96 lever gun in .44 mag and he loves it. If your worried about wetness with the CZ do what I do, polish all the metal parts with Flitz paste and it does a great job of repelling water until you can care for the rifle when your done for the day. Good Luck !!

[MI VHNTR]

I had a 77/44 SS a few years back. It was an excellent brush rifle for my uses. I eventually sold it to a friend after numerous requests to buy it. I only used factory ammo in it, but it would/did chamber the Federal 300 gr CastCore hunting loads. There was no problem with the Winchester Partition Gold 250 gr loads either. In fact, there was no factory load that it would not chamber/feed/eject. The rifle was plenty accurate at 100 yards, grouping around 2" or so, sometimes less than this. This was scoped, BTW. MI VHNTR

[Coyote Hunter]

You ask for recommendations for a good brush gun in a carbine, something in a versatile caliber.

May I suggest the Ruger Compact n 7mm-08 or .308?  And a Marlin .30-30?

You also ask about accuracy.  All I can say is that every Ruger bolt rifle I have had an opportunity to shoot has grouped under 1" at 100 yards.  My Ruger .22-250 recently put 4 shots into .5" at 200 yards, my Ruger 7mm Mag shots .5" at 100 yards, and my buddy's 7mm Rem Mag shoots .4".  In January I picked up a used Ruger in .257 Roberts and it is another half-MOA shooter.

And the three Marlins I have shot (.30-30, .375Win and .45-70) will do 1" at 100 yards with the right loads.  For fun, a levergun beats a bolt any day, IMHO.  My buddy and I shoot our Marilns at 200 yards on a regular basis and at 300 on occasion.  Last fall I had an opportunity to shoot the 500 meter rams at the NRA's Whittington Center with both the Marlin .375Win and .45-70.  Was knocking them down on a regular basis and downed 2 on the last 3 shots with the .45-70.  How much accuracy do you need?