Alright my fellow savages

I'm eagerly awaiting my new BSEV 22lr, which I'll be collecting in three (long) weeks.
What I want to do with it is bench rest, and I'm currently liking the look of the leupold vx1 3-9x40 in silver.
thats as far as I've got thus far.
what I need to ask the savage universe is:
1) what rings and bases do you guys and gals recommend
2) is there a bipod available that doesn't involve pulling the rifle down to install
3) what do you guys think of the leupold vx1.

any advice you guys could give me would be appreciated as I'm just getting into shooting, and I'm not too sure how much advice from gun shop guys is sales driven if ya know what i mean

cheers
Alby