I think you can do pretty well with a $600 budget. Any of the entry level guns from Savage/Tikka/Howa/TC will shot really well these days and set you back less than $400 new if you shop around or even less if you track down a used one.
I've always been a fan of the Nikon Buckmaster scopes for reasonably priced optic. The Redfield scopes are a good deal as well. A nicer scope is always great but don't feel like you need to spend $750+ just to have a functional optic. I've used a lot of sub $300 scopes on $300 rifles to hit targets at 1000 yards just to show guys that it can be done.
