I haven't shopped for 308 ammo in a while, but last time I looked, the 6.5 was a little cheaper than FGMM, so that made it really easy.
Usually, I am shooting at the Rifle Gun Club in Rifle. The range is out to 530 yards on any day of the week (however it is not open to the public outside of matches), and they do precision matches on the first Saturday of the month and usually shoot out to 800y at those. Been hearing stories of 1000y ranges coming on line outside GJ and one that is supposedly between Glenwood and New Castle, but I haven't been able to check them out.
Sounds like you have a healthy budget for a decent rifle and optics. If you can put off the rangefinder a little, you should be able to spend around $1100 on a rifle and the rest on some decent glass. Check the forums for that or find something like this (if you shoot MOA and not Mils)
http://www.milehighshooting.com/vort...e-spuhr-mount/ The class is a great suggestion at some point. I took one of those when I was getting started, and it helped me to understand a lot of what everyone was talking about in the forums. There are some great options around, depending on where you want to go, who is teaching, and how much you want to spend.
There is a danger with the long range stuff- it is very addictive and it gets expensive!!!! Do you need the latest greatest _______ to perform well? No, you don't usually. There are some that will help more than others, and many things you will just want. As many on the forums have said, as long as your gear is up to a certain level, reliable, and functional, you will be better off spending the money on ammo and shooting more, than updating to whatever the flavor of the month is.