First I do not shoot Competitions so take what I say with a grain of salt, I am sure there are more expensive/dedicated competition rifles that are better. I like to shoot groups at 100/200 and steel out to 1000
I use a Howa 1500 Heavy barrel, fluted, Varminter in .223 and with 69 grain reloads it is a fine rifle out to 200 yards for targets (longest paper target distance at my range) and steel out to around 500 (though we do occasionally stretch that out past 500 as we have 800 yard steel). At $600 for the rifle, it won't break the bank and is MOA accurate or better if you are.
I also have a few .22 "precision" rifles (Ruger and Savage) that I purchased for at or near the same cost and they are also fine and fun to shoot with out to 100 (longer in some cases). My 6.5 CM is for for longer distances out to 1000, but I paid about twice the cost of the Howa for it.
I reload my target centerfire rounds, and for the .223, 69 grains generally works well, but I can go heavier if desired (out to 75) though the 75s are on the border for the Howa 1/9 twist rate and to be fair I have only tried a few at this weight as the 69s work fine.
When I looked for options for a dedicated .223 target (bolt action) the Howa kept showing up on the top 5 lists, i got a deal on mine so I bought it, I like it, and see no need to change. Plus .223 is economically and if I want I can shoot the same handloads in my AR.
oops, looks like you may have settled on a .17 - Never mind.
YMMV
Dave