Do yourself a favour ang get the varmint with the heavy 26" inch barrel. Also, once you have the gun and scope, dont spend another nickel on that rifle. It will be a good shooter you will proud to leave to a child. Yake the money you would spend on dressing it up and buy a few boxes of match ammo and registration fees. You will learn more about shooting lying should to shoulder with some great talent in a single weekend then you would have thought possible. When it comes time to upgrade, ina few years, you should have a good idea of exactly what you want, where to get it and why.
About the scope, I've never regretted going high end, and low end usually gets replaced amidst frustration and after wasted time and money. +1 For sightron SIII.