I've had good experiences with my Tikka's, but IMO the Montana is way more rifle. I'd pick one up in 7-08 if I could find one, and even in the off-chance the barrel was no good, you could be into a mighty fine stock, trigger, action, and a match-grade barrel, and come in at or under budget.
Easy choice to me. If you were constrained by half the budget, then I could see living with a cheap plastic stock and going T3. But even then I'd probably just grab a Rem 700 and upgrade stock and trigger as funds allow.
