Im at work and going to respond to the first post. Ive been shooting guns off and on since I was 20. Im more of a rifle person than handgun. My only current offering with glass and precision is my Ruger American .308 with a 4-12 Vortex Diamondback. Im not real familiar with sighting scopes and Kentucky windage if that's a factor. I just used $1,500 for glass as I didn't think I would need that much magnification or attention to details on the glass part. Ive never been shooting past 100 yards so Im a total newbie on anything past 100. My rifle now is not sighted in as I don't have a 100 yard range close to my area to shoot and zero it. Ive been watching the forum about long range shooting classes and would like to attend one.
I shoot handguns as a necessity, not really my thing either.
Any chance you can make it to Talladega, Alabama for a Saturday shoot? I think you could gain some valuable experience in shooting iron sights out to 600 yards before sinking big bucks into a long range rifle. No worry if you can't, lots of folks jump right in and take the plunge. I'm more of a measured approach kind of shooter. I mention Talladega because there are many members here that go together and separately to shoot and you could pick up some pointers from them. Start at 100 yards and then move to range 1 where 200, 300 and 600 yard targets are available. I'd read up (there is a USDA regulation crapload of info) on MOA and MilRad scopes and how they are best used for a particular application. First and second focal planes are something while easy to understand, have a huge impact on price of a scope.
Hell, there are numerous threads on these and other LRPS topics posted right here on this site.