Not questioning your desire to have an M14icon, but strictly as a competition firearm....you're spending too much for too little. For the same money or a little less, you could have an AR that will out-shoot that 14 fairly convincingly, take far less maintenance, and cost less to operate. As a (relative) competition Novice, you'll learn the game better, faster, with an AR as well. There's a reason that 96% of the rifles shooting the Nationals are AR's!

Having said that, that SI "Loaded" rifle will out-shoot you until you've got an "Expert" card in your wallet, albeit with a LOT more futzing and time required.

John....who fired an M14 in HP for nearly 10 years