A lot of folks who want a budget gun look at Savage. That's all fine & dandy. They make accurate rifles, & lots of folks are happy enough with them. But I've never been a Savage fan, & have never been a fan of thier fit & finnish, or looks.
That said, I'd personally recomend Wby for a buildable budget rifle.
Specifically, the Wby Vanguard S-ll in 300Win, or 300WSM, depending if you want long, or short action.
All S-ll's (not just the sub MOA models) are guaranteed 1" or less @100 with factory ammo. Good tuneable factory trigger.
Same exact action as the Howa 1500. So, Aftermarket upgrades exist for future plans.
If you choose a Weatherby cartrige, I would recomend stepping it up to the Mark-V for the longer barrel, among other things.
For example, a 300WSM or 300Win will walk right along side a 24" barreled 300 Wby. It's not untill you step it up to a 26" pipe that the Wby starts to shine a little brighter than the other two.
**belive me I tried with very hot handloads on my old 24" piped 300Wby, & my 300WSM will outrun it.**
Glass:
Look on Craigslist, or your local paper for a used, mid 90's or newer, Leupold VX-III for cheap. Buy it for next to nothing, then send it to the Leupold custom shop for reticle/turret upgrades as you can afford them. (they're not expensive) & you Still get the same 100% guarantee Leupy is famous for, no matter who the origional purchaser was.
You can pick up an accurate rifle, & high quality glass this way for well under a grand.
Do Not go buy some walmart special, with some cheapo scope & expect it to shoot with the big boys. Only on VERY RARE occasions does anyone get one of those & have anything resembling decent accuracy.
It's not always cheap to play the LR game, but you don't always have to have super deep pockets either, if you can get the quality components needed for accuracy for the right price.
Wby S-ll, & Leupold VX-III is an excellent, & proven LR combo.gun)
