Cisco,
Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say fixed ammo will never beat someone shooting breech seated. In reading the match results in the "Black Powder Cartidge News" you'll see Steve Garbe shoots a lot of offhand with fixed ammo and not to many people beat him.
A lot is going to depend on your rifle and how it was chambered and throated. The guns the old time Schuetzen shooters used were pretty iffy in how the chambers were lined up with the barrel. Chambers were pretty loose to. So breech seating was almost universally used in order to get what accuracy was available in those guns. Today tho if your gun was set up by a competent gunsmith...... and CPA seems to do a decent job..... and has the chamber lined up perfectly with the bore, has a minimum SAAMI chamber, along with a mould cut to fit a properly cut throat, there's no reason why fixed ammo can't be competitive.
You're right in starting out slow and working into the game. The only fault I see with the way you're doing it is using boughten bullets. Seems like your buddies agree. One thing I would suggest you do with those bullets is to separate them out by wgt, in tenth gr. increments, and then shoot them in that order. With a little luck you won't be shooting any scores/groups with bullets that vary more than a tenth of a gr. For those bullets that weigh way out of line from the norm, or have obvious visual defects, just use them for foulers and the first shot you should put into the bank when starting a new relay. This off course is good advice when you start casting too, altho you can throw the bad ones back into the pot if you want.
I can't give you any loads for 4759 as I haven't used any since IMR threatened to discontinue making it back in the early 80's. They changed their minds in a hurry tho. But, I'm sure there are quite a few on here that do use it and hopefully they'll chime in.
Be careful tho about using any loads suggested. With 4227 I have found there can be as much as 100 fps difference for the same load between lots. That's why I mentioned the MV with the loads I gave since if you find your gun varies quite a bit from them you'll know what you have to do to get reasonably close. Also each gun is an individual and will more than likely take a slightly different powder charge in order to show you it's best. Treat all suggestions as an area to work around. Start out a bit low and work up to, and beyond very carefully.
As you mention... you've already spent a lot of money.
You haven't even started yet if you really get into it. The nice part is that once you have, or make, all the tools you need you won't have to get them again.
PETE