Okay - Realize that the barrels you're getting with those aren't any better on the inside than what you'll get at Wally World...
I'd personally recommend a Savage 10FP or 12BVSS-S (single-shot solid bottom receiver - the poor man's 40X). Savages tend to outshoot the other two big brands right out of the box. It'll cost you about $80 for a replacement trigger, but you'll likely do that anyway with the other two...
The Savages tend to do better than the others with factory ammo, and really shine with careful handloads. Check out sinclairintl.com for loading stuff. It's possible to get started in high precision loading for a few hundred $$...
Other option would be to buy a Wally World Remington, and have it trued and rebarreled by a benchrest/varmint smith. This will cost you about $400 for the rifle, and about $4-500 to have it cleaned up and rebarreled. This is a bit more $$ than the models you're specifying, but hey, it'll buy a lot more accuracy. You can also pick your own barrel twist and calibre.
For longer range, you may with to consider the .308 over the .223, unless you get a seriously fast twist barrel. If you go the semi-custom route, you can think of something like the 6/284 or 6.5/284 (.308 boltface), or even something like the .308 Baer (magnum boltface).
For what it's worth, at the NBRSA Benchrest Group Nationals this fall, I gave Paul Dorsey a skinny barrel Savage 110 in .243 that I picked up last year for $200 - it shoots about 3/4" with Nosler 55 gr. ballistic tips and a very hot load of Varget. I'll be getting it back sometime this winter, fitted with either the fast twist 6/284 or 6.5/284 barrel, probably 28" in length, in a heavy varmint contour. Going to put a Timney benchrest trigger on it (2-6 oz.). Total cost: $200 rifle, $100 trigger, $250 barrel, $150 chambering, $100 or so to clean up the action, and $15 for acraglass that I'll bed it with. I'm also going to spring for another $40, and get a wrench to use with the Savages - I'll also have the .243 barrel to change in for close-in prairie dogs...
A little while back, I bought a used 6mm benchrest barrel ("It's nice, but it just won't shoot in the zeros..."), and paid the guy I bought it from (Hoehn) to rechamber it to 6BR. It launches 55 gr. Noslers at around 4,100 fps with a nice hot load of AA2200 (just bought 16 more pounds). The barrel is currently with Clarence Hammonds getting a nice muzzle brake. Cost for the barrel and chambering was $175, and the brake is going to set me back another $150. Groups with the Noslers and 2200 were in the threes to fives range, which wasn't bad considering I really wasn't shooting for accuracy that day (chrony, but no wind flags, and it was unpredictably windy).
[This message has been edited by Bogie (edited November 08, 2000).]
