sounds like you have your mind made up. cant go wrong with a savage. i know what your saying about those vtr's they cool looking. as far as the varminter i had one also and sold it. if i was to buy a new ar it would be a custom d-tech. if you wanted to go with a bushmaster i would go with the new predator model. it has a shorter barrel and a slower twist barrel which would prolly shoot a little heavier bullet than the varminter.