Hi, newbie alert! :)

I'm looking at my first purchase and wanted some advice fro experienced shooters.

I need to select my first gun to get into long range competition shooting and I'm on a fairly tight budget.. I want it to shoot fairly well straight out of the box and be a great tool to learn with. I would also like it to have a lot of upgradability so that I can gradually change the components to improve it's performance as I build my own skills.

This guy has done two budget projects (1,000 yards for $500 and 1 mile for $1,000) and I generally like his overall approach, so that's what I'm currently considering.

So I have put together a shortlist of guns to choose from - all 6.5mm Creedmoor because I know I'd prefer improved crosswind performance and can just compensate for drop. Dealers appear to have really low stocks at the moment and I think there's an element of "Covid Pricing" going on too, so I'm struggling to find great deals like I've seen mentioned by others on the forum, but this is what I've found so far and I'd appreciate your opinions as to which way I should jump:

$299.99 22671 Savage Axis 6.5mm Creedmoor 22" https://www.rkguns.com/savage-axis-6...71-4rd-22.html
$299.99 22886 Savage Axis 6.5mm Creedmoor 22" Stainless https://www.impactguns.com/bolt-acti...64-22886/#wiki
$369.99 22099 Savage Axis II XP 6.5mm Creedmoor 22" / Bushnell Banner 3-9x40mm https://www.smga.com/savage/axis-ii-...r-w-scope-9521
$464.99 57360 Savage 110 Apex Predator XP 6.5mm Creedmoor 24" / Vortex Crossfire II 4-12x44mm (includes $75 rebate until Oct 15) https://www.smga.com/savage/110-apex...-w-vortex-5632
$419.99 18398 Savage 12 FV 6.5mm Creedmoor 26" https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/sava...act&cm_soc=AFF

Whatever direction I go I'm going to need a scope, bipod, cheekrest etc. in the end, so I'd really appreciate your thoughts on whether the XP scopes are worth considering while I'm still learning, or if I should just plan to replace them immediately. Same for AccuStock - is it worth looking for initially?

So over to you: What do you think?

Ross.