Start with the question nobody asks first: what is it for. A rifle bought for a purpose you made up afterwards tends to sit in the safe. Most first rifles are bought for one of three jobs, and each one points somewhere different.
A .22 LR, and it is not a compromise. Ammunition is cheap enough that you can shoot hundreds of rounds in an afternoon, and volume is what builds the skill. Nearly everyone who shoots well started here, and a fair number of people who shoot well still own one.
An AR-15 in .223/5.56. Mild recoil, parts and magazines everywhere, and it adjusts to fit almost anybody, which matters more than it sounds if more than one person in the house might use it. .300 Blackout is the same rifle with a different barrel, and it is the better answer if a silencer is where you are headed.
Caliber follows the animal and the distance, not the other way round. .308 Winchester covers most of what people hunt in Texas and is the safe default if you are hunting deer and do not want to think about it much. Tell us what you are hunting and where, and that narrows fast.
Length of pull, weight and how the rifle balances decide whether you actually shoot it. A rifle that is too long or too heavy gets left at home. Shoulder a few. The difference is obvious in about thirty seconds and invisible on paper.
The rifle is not the whole bill. Optics, mounts, magazines, a sling and ammunition are real money, and a cheap rifle with a cheap optic on a cheap mount is the combination that frustrates people into quitting. If the budget is tight, put it into the glass and the mount before the receiver.
We stock .22 LR, .223/5.56, .300 Blackout and .308, and more AR parts than anyone in town. If you would rather build one than buy one, we will help you assemble it from your parts, and we mount optics while you wait. About half our case is used or consigned, which is usually where a first rifle at a sensible price comes from.