The 6.5 Creedmoore will be fine for 600 yard deer, and if your stuck on factory ammo, that is the selling point on that cartridge. There are others better performing long range deer cartridges, but good long range factory ammo can get expensive for cartridges such as a 7mm mag and others, so the best option is to reload with those bigger ones. And if your starting out in long range, ammunition cost is a consideration because you need to (and will want to, its FUN!!) spend a lot of time practicing. With the Creedmoore, there are good long range factory ammunition selections to go on that are not terribly expensive relative to other factory ammo, and recoil is low.
As for a choice in firearms, there are lots of good options. Tikka's are good, Savages are good, and despite what many say, Remingtons are good. In the last few months I have done load development for 3 different factory Remingtons, 1 in 22-250 and 2 in 7mm mag. The 22-250 is shooting well under half MOA out to 300 yards (as far as I have shot it) with 40 grain V-max bullets, one of the 7 mags is shooting in the .2 and .3's at 100 yards and holding half MOA or less out to 700 yards shooting 168 Bergers, and the other 7mm mag is shooting 180 Bergers over 3000 fps and is shooting right around half MOA at 100 yards, haven't stretched it out yet but I have no doubt it will deliver. All that has been done to these rifles is a bedding job and proper torquing of action and scope/base screws. My .260 AI is built off a Remington 700 that was chambered in .308, and after load development it was shooting right around half MOA before I rebarreled it. My Remington 700 sps varmint in 22-250 shot under half MOA until I burned the barrel out. I have personally developed loads for 9 different Remingtons in the last 5 years, and EVERY one of them shot half inch @100 or better with bedding and load development. All I'm saying, is if your new to long range, there are alot of people that will bash Remington. They are not bad rifles.
That being said, I also have Savages. Barrelnut is right about them, they are very good shooting rifles as well, and if you want to rebarrel down the road, it is easy. And to my knowledge, Remington doesn't chamber any rifles in 6.5 creedmoore yet... so Savage is a good option. So is tikka, or Browning. The x bolt is a nice rifle, The one I shot was a good shooter. Keep in mind, the aftermarket products for pretty much anything accept Remington and Savage are not as vast.
For optics....14 power is fine for 600 yards if that is all you can afford, especially if that is your farthest distance you would shoot. I have a 6.5-20 and I shoot steel to 1600 yards regularly, and have shot at 14x at that distance, as that is where my milling reticle is a true mil, and it is very possible. 600 yards is cake with 14 power. My father has a 4-16 PST SFP on his 6.5x55, and my 13 year old niece was able to hit a 12" steel plate at 1005 yards 4 shots in a row just the other day....so 14x is just fine for 600 yards. That is...unless your firearms skills are less than that of a novice 13 year old girl....
The Vortex HS-T is a good low price option. It's essentially the PST without the illuminated reticle. The Burris Veracity line of scopes are great optics too, they have a 3-15 and a 4-20 that would be good. if your budget is tighter than those, Nikon may have something to offer, but I haven't checked them out for a while. I'm a big fan of Vortex because they are awesome supporters of LE and military, and offer great discounts for LE and military, and they also have a great warranty, though with the 4 scopes 3 binoculars and 1 spotting scope we have received from them none have needed it.
Just my input. Hope you get a good shooter put together!!
It has some of the most affordable quality ammo for target and hunting on the market. It is a excellent long range target rifle to 1000 yards. It has much better barrel life than the 25-06 will. And due to the high BC of 6.5 bullets, it will have more energy at 400 yards too. The 6.5 Creed has become extremely popular they last few years.
