If you can do the work yourself you can build up a bench rest gun that will equal any gun out there. You can do this with a Suhl, Anschutz, 52, 37, or 40X. You can do this for way under $1000 depending on just how well you can do the necessary work and how well you select the gun you start with. You can do this without fitting a high priced barrel. The trigger may be the most costly thing involved in building the rifle - but in some of the guns this may cost nothing. You can come up with a gun that will shoot groups as tight as the best custom gun but how well you can score with it will depend on how well you handle the gun on the bench.
The gun may not look like the current bench guns being used, that is it probably won't look like a brightly painted race car but trust me the "old target" rifles can shoot just as well as the prettiest gun out there.
