Thanks again all.
Quite Iike the Howa, taking him down to choose though because a rifle is such a personal thing. The Howa is $560 bare I can get quality rings for $80 and a Leuopold VX1 3-9x40 for $245. Interestingly they also had Howa packages but only in 30-06 which was rifle, scope, bag and kife for $560!