I was leaning towards the Vortex Viper 6.5-20x44 for my .243 700 work-in-progress. Still am, but like you, budget has me limited now. (I bought a good barrel for cheap $$$ instead). Now I have to save for the Scope+Rings+Base and for the 'smith fees to get the gun trued/blueprinted and barrel mounted.
... and ammo, lots of ammo!
Vortex just released the PST model that is under 1k, unfortunately it is on a 3 month back order. I will probably be slapping a Vortex Razor on my savage however unless I am able to get my hands on a PST without too much of a waiting list.