The .32-20 is a bit of a disadvantage for most 200 yd schuetzen matches. The original Winchesters will cost dearly for a good one, unless you find one in need of rework, and you might finish under your $2000 price tag.
Italian copies can be found in calibers suitable for schuetzen rifles, like a .38-55, and they sell for under $1,000, so again, you might finish under $2,000, but I'm not familiar with how accurate they might be, or which is the most accurate.
You might post a wanted ad here in the "for sale" section, and see if someone has anything suitable that they are ready to part with. Good used match rifles are usually the best buys around, and don't require any further modifications.

Thanks for the replies,

  Assume that $2,000 is not enough to get a competitive benchrest rifle. Also assume that there is a limit to what I can/will spend. How much should I expect to pay for a competitive rifle? (not including mold, tools, etc) Thanks! Joe S

Ken Meyer no longer has the rifle. I went with a friend to pick it up and am presently helping him get set up to shoot it.

Don

40-Rod:

Please expand on what you mean by "stabilizing" the stock. I'm not addressing the spelling - I don't remember hearing of stabilizing a stock before.

Thanks

Winchester stocks are not as stiff as they need to be and vibrations can throw off your sweet spot you worked so hard to find by adjusting your powder load and seating depth.

A through bolt conversion pulls the wood tight up against the action so that it is stiffer and less prone to movement due to recoil.

Thanks everyone for your help.  I will be checking into the CPA rifles, although I would prefer a Hi Wall.  I was looking at various Hi Wall options, and noticed an Italian Hi Wall with double sets for around $1,000.  If I were to buy it, I believe I can rebarrel it with a match grade barrel  and put a new buttstock on for under $1,000.  Am I correct? Dont know about the firing pins on the imports, would have to check into that. Would any more work be required?   The Ballard Company Hi walls will cost over $3,000, so if the price starts to get over $2500 I might as well buy one of theirs, or an original action and put a new barrel and buttstock on. Correct? Thanks! Joe

The Italian High Walls I own both have a Niedner type firing pin.

Brad Hurt

Is it possible we're confusing someone's interest in starting out in Schuetzen, vs. really serious Schuetzen shooting?
I think it's possible to have fun, and get started without nemerous modifications or particular calibers. Now if it means you want to compete with the big boys, it may require all the right things, but it's not a requirement to start enjoying the game.

You can buy the CPA with unfinished wood for $2150. Finish the wood yourself and save several hundred dollars. Be sure and get the stock design that you need for the type shooting you are going to do.

These rifles are absolutely competitive.

Original single shot actions are getting more and more expensive. New ones cost even more.

Come on in, the water is FINE!!

Dale53

The way I've approached several shooting sports is this;
Get a rifle that is "adeqate"... not "competitive at the top level", but "pretty good".  In other words, I buy what I can get my grubby little mits on in pretty short order for what I can afford.

Then practice getting ME up to snuff, and start collecting "all that other stuff", like JDSteele mentions... loading equipment, optics, moulds, and everything else. 

When I get good enough that my scores stop going up, and my groups stop getting smaller, the I look at either a rifle overhaul, or a new rifle.

So far, I've gotten bored with two sports before I had to spend the big bucks on "top level" equipment.   

I've just barely started Schutzen shooting (offhand), and my groups are still getting smaller...

Paul F.

Take the time to visit one of the local matches if at all possible.  At EtnaGreen at least I have seen nice rifles ready to go, minus scopes being sold in our trading and swapping area for well under 2K.  Last year at Etna Green there was a nice looking CPA with both center fire and rimfire barrels blocks etc the went for under 2K.   IN additinal good sued scopes, reloading gear etc can oftern be found at very reasonalbe prices as guys upgrade, dispose of no longer needed gear, of occasionally are helping the widow of a deceased shooter dispose of his gear.


obviously there is no gurantee of what may or may not show up at a given event , but a few hundred bucks spent on travel expense can be a very good investment.

Thornblom, if you already have those two rifles and have found some matches to shoot, your first question seems a little strange...my suggestion would be to continue to shoot the CPA and low-wall at the matches, see what works for your there, and as you find additional accessories (and yes, additional guns) that you just can't do without, add them to your growing list of stuff you haul around.  Regardless, you ARE started in the schuetzen game whether you know it or not (didn't hurt a bit, did it?  ) and now the only things you can do are keep reading this forum (along with all related literature you can lay your hands on) shoot every match you possibly can and get together with whichever fellow shooters are local (and you define local) and practice saying, "but darling, we NEED this rifle now and it's such a great deal...the rent can wait 'til next month."  There is NO cure, thornblum...you're hooked.

     As far as specific improvements to your equipment, the sky is the limit (for instance I would think about a rimfire barrel and block assembly for the CPA so I could take advantage or that fine trigger in both venues, but the low-wall can be given acceptable trigger performance a couple of ways.)  Other than that, just shoot as often as you can, keeping records of your sight settings in various wind conditions, etc.  If possible find someone at the matches you attend who you can practice with so you can encourage each other and critique problems...it will surprise you how quickly you will progress.   

     Finally, be sure and look over things like Competition Corner in the Journal as well as other sources of technique suggestions.  Try them in practice (or at matches if you must) and keep what works for you...we all have little "tricks" that we depend on, sometimes without even realizing it.  That's why the more we shoot and concentrate on what we are doing, the faster we progress.

HTH, I guess I got a little windy, but that's what I do!     Froggie