What kind of a shooter are you?
You say you aren't a 2" @500yd shooter yet, well, many of us never get there our whole lives. Others, apparently do, but not without practice. A lot of practice. And then more practice.
Lots of folks are going to be willing to telly you you need this, or that thing to get what you are looking for. I'm not. Nor am I going to tell you to buy rifle x, and then replace everything on it except the action with custom stuff. You asked for opinions, so here's mine.
The best thing for you, right now, is to get a fair rifle and scope. New, used, whatever, just don't spend a bunch of money. Spend the left over cash shooting the rifle. Learn about drop, wind doping, and everything else that goes into rifle shooting. THEN, when you have reached the point where you can shoot better than your rifle, then move up to a better rifle. Put the old one on the sale rack and move on.
A high quality rifle and scope don't make you a better shot. What they do is give you a performance edge IF you can use it. And the ammo makes a bit of difference as well. Every rifle generally has one load it shoots best. It may or may not be what you think. Serious handloading can often improve even a mediocre rifle's performance to match quality. Many rifles, even the "budget" ones can shoot better than many shooters, if you know what to do with them. And until you reach that point, all a high end gun/scope get you is something to brag about how much you spent, when what really matters is being able to brag about how well you shot.
