Hey guys, new user here and I'm glad I found you. Thanks for checking out my question and your opinions.

First off, I'm looking to purchase my first rifle. I've had the chance to shoot my friend's .308 and .243Win and after carefully considering ballistics I've really fallen in love with the .243Win caliber. I want to get (either out of box or build) a rifle that I can challenge myself, hopefully work up to 600m, 800m, and even 1,000m, although living in California, it's tough to shoot beyond 200m without a lot of travel. Perhaps one day I'll get a chance to hunt, but for now this would be a paper/range toy.

I know there's a lot to long range precision, including some really amazing 100% custom rifles, and eventually, after dialing in exactly what I like, I would go that route, but for now I've settled on Savage and hope to be able to (as my skills and desires progress) upgrade this rifle until that 100% custom build.

With that in mind, I've already purchased a mid-level SWFA scope, and have saved (over quite a long time) approximately $1,000 - $1,200 to play with. Can you guys give me some ideas of models I should look at? I'm definitely into saving as much money as possible!!

I was looking at the 12 Long Range Precision rifle until my buddy suggested ways of saving money by looking at other models. Do you guys think an Axis would be a cheaper way to go with an immediate trigger and stock upgrade? I'm game for all ideas.

Cheers!