Right handed guns are designed to vent out to the right in times of catastrophic case failure. That fills a left hander's face full of all sorts of things they don't want in their face, which is why I try to convince folks to get the rifles that are built to be safe for them.
My dad, father in law, wife, sister, and daughter all shoot left handed. Left handed rifles abound these days. My sister uses a lefty Remington 700 in 7mm magnum. My wife had a nice Savage left handed rifle in 7mm-08 for a while. She's decided to take her chances with lever actions, since she likes them better, even though she's seen a rifle blow out the right side before (Remington semi-auto shooting faulty PMC 22 LR ammo). Luckily, I was shooting it, so no harm was done (I'm a righty). My dad is hunting in a firearm restriction unit these days, no rifles allowed, so he's using a left-handed Remington 870 shotgun. He grew up using lever actions, though, back in the dark ages before factories made left handed actions. My daughter is using break-action single shots for now. I don't know what the in-law shoots.
Bottom line, since he's just getting started, I'd say get a Savage for him. Lots of choices, decent rifle, good accuracy, and good price. The money saved on the choice of rifle should fund a pretty nice scope.
You might also check the local gun shops for used rifles. It seems like left handed Remington 700s are always in the used racks, probably because Remington has been making lots of lefty rifles for a long time. My local shop always has one or two on the shelves.
