Mr. Moe,
A few players have had issues with the script not firing at different points (this relates to FNVEdit and Masterupdate for the most part); however, if you've acquired the finger and the quest has updated, just return it to Randall the quest should continue without a hitch. The guy in Boulder is an ephemeral character, so you can't have extended dialogue with him (and he's disabled when you turn in the finger). It's not a bug, but just a choice in design to keep the quest as low-impact and fluid as possible.
1. Most of the vanilla weapons are pricey (certainly when compared to FO3), and so I tried to keep it in line with a special weapon. I'd suggest using the console to disable it if you feel it's unbalanced (I've done this plenty of times with mods). It won't affect the quest or anything, so disable away!
2. The quest targets do spawn when you enter the proper quest stage, barring the aforementioned error with masterupdate, or a possible conflict (about 10-12 players have reported this, and everyone seems to come up with a different workaround).
3. I used "Three Card Bounty" to make a broad comparison, but in truth the location and difficulty of each target can vary pretty wildly. There's no way I'm going to revamp the order or location of bounties at this point; however, I'll take your comments into consideration for the sequel. If the bounties seems too easy, just stay with it and they should provide more of a challenge as you progress. Try using the [Taunt] option with the final boss, for example.

I appreciate your feedback, and I hope you enjoy the mod.
For anyone reading this, just bear in mind that I only check this thread every few days; if you encounter a serious bug or have a pressing question, please PM at the nexus. I'll respond to this thread, but it will take longer.