For new in your price range, including good but not top end glass, you will be looking at Savage with a Bushnell 4200 or Leupold VXII. Savage makes very accurate, reliable rifles and there is nothing wrong with either of the two scopes. If you want one of the other quality makes, the rifle alone will be $800 plus, and deson't leave enough for glass.
Once you find the make of scope and rifle you would ideally like to have, it might be worth looking at used. A good used gun and scope means you can buy quite a bit more rifle and scope for the same money. I just sold a Browning 308 that was in next to new condition for 70% of the cost of a new one. With the 3x9 Refeild scope on it (in their day the equivalent of the OLD Leupold VX3) it was within the price range you are looking at. If that was a new gun and scope, total would have been about $1,500. You can realistically expect to save 30 to 40% if you find the right deal on a used one.
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