1. Weatherby's aren't all that accurate. Pretty, but not that accurate... And their triggers aren't the "remington 700" style - There's LOTS of good triggers out there for the 700...
2. A Krieger barrel is nice - good choice. But I'd have a benchrest smith do the work. Why? You want a hunting rifle with varmint accuracy, right? How much does Krieger want to true the action and screw in the barrel? (FWIW, once you've got a trued action, it is EASY to use other barrels... just need a barrel vise and an action wrench). An accuracy smith is likely to be comparable. Mine charges about $400 for a chambered frozen Shilen Select Match for my Panda. Not sure how much a 700 truing job would run...
You're also going to want a neck tight enough that you're going to have to turn your brass for consistency. You DO handload, right? You ain't gonna get 1/4 (or even 1/2) MOA without doing that. Figure a Redding sizing die, and probably a Wilson straight-line seater.
My 6PPC/22PPC/6BR bench rifle weighs 10.5 pounds, with scope. The 3" wide forearm isn't the most comfy thing for offhand shooting tho... My heaviest rifle is a Savage 12BVSS-S that weighs about 17-18 pounds.
Kelly McMillan (you may recognize the name?) does VERY nice hunting-type stocks with benchrest-quality tolerances.
Go to
www.benchrest.com, and look through the lists of folks who sell complete rifles - Shooters Corner is in there. There's a bunch of accuracy smiths there too... Way I see it, you may spend another coupla hundred, but in the large scheme of things, you'll be sure of getting your money's worth...
And maybe think about other calibres (also, if you start with a LONG barrel, and you decide you don't like something, you can cut it off and start over...). Not sure about the availability of "good" brass for the .30-06, but I know that there's good stuff out there for the .308 (Lapua) and the 6/284 or 6.5/284 (Norma and Lapua, I think). If your brass isn't consistent, why bother?
The boltface size you start with also matters, assuming you're using a remington-style action. With a Savage, you can change the bolt faces, but with the "normal" type of action, you're stuck unless you want to buy a complete new bolt... The .30-06 face will also hold a .22-250, .308, .270, .284, etc., and the .300 Win Mag will also hold the 7mm mag, etc...
Is this going to be a "beanfield" deer rifle? You may want to SERIOUSLY think about the 6.5/284...
There is a very nice centerfire forum at
www.benchrest.com. Ask around, and you might be surprised.
Check out the following folks. They've all got SERIOUS reputations in accuracy, and will NOT do you wrong.
Bob White:
http://benchrest.com/shooterscorner/
Mickey Coleman:
http://www.colemanrifles.com/
Bill Shehane:
http://www.scopeusout.com/
Jim Borden:
http://www.bordenrifles.com/
Clarence Hammonds (he did a muzzle brake for me - very nice)
http://benchrest.com/hammonds/
Ron Hoehn (he does my chambering):
http://benchrest.com/hoehn/
Speedy Gonzales:
http://www.sgyrifles.com/
Col. Billy Stevens (ret) - he fluted my favorite 6PPC barrel that Hoehn chambered...:
http://benchrest.com/stevens/
Dave Tooley:
http://www.tooleyrifles.com/
Clay Spencer:
http://benchrest.com/spencer/