At this point it seems the savage 10/110-11/111 is the way to go. It has a big following and have heard very little to nothing bad about them. I can get one in my budget and slowly build it to where I want it.

Never been to a gun show as there are none close to me. I would be skeptical of buying from a gun show vendor I didn't know. I get the lifetime warranty but it could turn into a nightmare trying to get the scope up to par. It's like the argument of buying rifle X brand because it's an all American classic. There are many things that are good but some aspect of companies suck. I hear all these people boast about this or that company but there customer service sucked so bad they end up returning and hating the company.