Have you thought about a model 70 Extreme Weather? I have one in 270 Winchester and it's one of my most accurate rifles. My rifle weighs 7 lb 13 Oz with 3.5-10X40 Leupold scope, so you should be able to stay under 8.5 lb with a much heavier LR scope. I did buy my rifle used and I put it in a McMillan Edge stock, that put me about $1,250 into my rifle before adding my scope and after selling my Bell and Carlson stock. Mine is the first generation rifle, I hear the stocks are more svelte on the current rifles than mine was
