I bought my daughter a Howa
I have looked at the Howa and it looks like a nice rifle topped with Japanese made scope. I have been told by a couple of sources that Weatherby uses Howa recievers.
I was shopping for a 308 right before Obama took office and it was hard to a rifle, around here, for under a grand. I ended up with a Savage 11 from Dicks Sporting goods and upgraded the scope later. I have no idea who makes scopes for Dick's... Its not bad but my 30-30 is still my deer rifle, The Savage is a general purpose rifle for now.