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Ditto on sales at Natchez...they have great prices on their optic sales and clearances.
You might just go hit the pawn shops for a used gun. I have an old Savage with stock that I picked up at a pawn shop for under $250 out the door, 30-06.
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My take....
You are better off with a cheap rifle and a good scope than with a good rifle and a cheap scope.
$600 for a rifle is doable. $600 for scope and rifle is a challenge. This limits options.
Look at the Ruger American. It's a decent rifle and they shoot far better than their price warrants. As for caliber, it really doesnt matter. 7mm08, 270, 308 30-06, 260, heck all of them are just fine. Its nice to argue about the fine points, but the basic fact and truth is this: They all kill deer cleanly. If these cartridges don't drop your deer, there is a shooter issue, not a caliber issue. I'm as guilty as the next (shooting a semi wildcat cartridge in a high end Cooper rifle with expensive high end glass) but if forced to admit it, my pricey deer rig doesnt really do much that a basic plain jane 7Mm Rem Mag won't do.
I've had good luck with Natchez shooting supplies and their clearances on Weaver Grandslams. Very good scope for the money.
Avoid Remington like the damned plague. Remington used to be one of our premier makers. Over the past ten years, quality has declined SUBSTANTIALLY. They make a truly shitty product now.
Savage used to be the cheapo maker, and they shot well. TO a large degree, they have really started to eat Winchester/remington's lunch, and prices have gone up significantly. Thye are great, but won't meet your price budget.
You'd be hard pressed to do better than a 7mm-08/308/270/3006 Ruger American and a 1.5-5x or 2-7x Weaver grand slam
Fro
Ditto on sales at Natchez...they have great prices on their optic sales and clearances.
You might just go hit the pawn shops for a used gun. I have an old Savage with stock that I picked up at a pawn shop for under $250 out the door, 30-06.
You guys are exactly right, for a combo, especially with a brand new rifle, it's tight for both. Especially if adding new base and rings.
Years ago I bought a Millet scope for a a good price, but I didn't like it for distance a d I. Don't think it would be a good deer scope. Heard good about the Weaver scopes, and had thought about a SWFA 10x, but didn't think that's a good combo either.
I'm not allergic to a used Rifle, especially a purposed hunting rifles, as they typically don't get shot much. I did buy a Stevens 200 and who's scope on it for about $350, now about 8 years ago. For a combo like that, $600 would be my max. For piecing together a system, I could probably do more as I can spread it out.
I like what I've read about the 6.5 CM. I have 2 AR builds planned, but also thought about combining the AR build and hunting rifle, to have more budget and can build more what I would like and work well too, even I to a more off the wall caliber like the 6.5 ( off the wall as in not the ordinary.308 or the like) also saves the need for a rail. Now, not sold on the 6.5, but nice knowing an option like that is available. Rolling the two together will give me more like $12-1300 range for the rifle.
ETA I was thinking about this today, I know uppers are a bit more than standard AR uppers if I build it, or an off the shelf 308 could be had for about $8-900 for a base rifle and that leaves $3-500 for glass.
ETA2: I have Read a lot of reviews on 6.8 for deer. Sounds like a promising lead on a caliber for AR hunter as well. How does that go in your AO?