Dale,
There are new chamberings being tried at 1,000 yards, due, I think, to the 600 yard format. I would hesitate to say the 6.5x54 Lapua is not competitive, but I'd echo Rich that there are better choices. Time will tell on the 6.5x54 Lapua, but that's not a good situation for a new shooter to be in. I've shot 6.5s -- a 6.5/06 AI, which won me a lot of fake wood. Rich De for a time held the IBS Light Gun small group record with a 6.5 -- he was shooting a variant on the 6.5/284.
Rich has pretty much forsaken 1,000 yard BR for 600 yard. Before that, he was a point-blank benchrest shooter, as was I. I started shooting 1,000 BR from the time it was sanctioned by the IBS in 1995, and do have the Long-Range Marksman jacket -- as does Rich.
So much for history and bona fides.
I'm not familiar with the Florida club. Unless very recent, they are not affiliated with IBS, NBRSA, or Pennsylvania. For competition, you're looking in the neighborhood of $2,500 for a Light Gun, and $3,000 for a Heavy Gun. Another considerable sum for dies, optics, etc. Cheap insurance to go to a registered match, even if it's an expensive trip.
By this time, 1K competition is just as demanding as point-blank ever was, but the inability to see your bullet holes in the target places a premium on the equipment -- the barrel and bullets -- and precision reloading.
Several thoughts: If you are going to insist on some of the "newer" chamberings, check out the West Virginia club's match reports. There are some good results coming out of there with what I think of as midrange (600 yard) chamberings. Then make contact with someone who has actually used them for more information -- tricks and pitfalls.
I'd also get as many barrels as you can afford to purchase and have chambered. And a selection of bullets. As an old-time benchrest shooter, you know it doesn't matter a whit what bullet *you* like, it's what that barrel likes. To a lesser degree, the same with powder.
I can't stress enough that 80 percent of success is the rifle (barrel) and ammunition. Only if it is very, very windy do wind-reading skills begin to enter into the equation. That, and the inability to correct for shots by observing the last shot's strike has made a lot of short-range benchrest shooters dislike 1K BR.
F-class is different of course, the target is pulled and spotted for each shot. Most of us will get off 10 shots before an F-class shooter has three rounds downrange. The Australians did some testing on the different formats, always shooting "benchrest": the smaller groups always came with run and gun, not with pulling and spotting the target.
Shooting 1K is an art. Preparing for it a science.
EDIT:
"dk hunt 14," who typed in his reply while I was writing my longer one, is the current record holder for the smallest 1,000 yard 10-shot group.
BTW, while there are three sanctioning bodies, most of us take "world record" as just that, no matter which of the sanctioning bodies it was shot under.
