I bought a 22-250 heavy barrel with the crappy xmark trigger that wouldn't adjust this year, I replaced the trigger with the old style that breaks cleanly at just under 3 lbs. It shoots the cheap Winchester 55's into less than 3/4" pretty easily and that is without developing a load or changing the stock.
But you certainly see a pattern here of people buying the Remington and changing it with labor and or money to function properly. Many rifles Tikka, TC, Vanguard /Howa, Savage, Ruger, and others don't need to be tweaked to shoot well.
The first 700 I bought in 1977 didn't extract well and was returned in favor of a Ruger 77 that functioned well then and still does. In my opinion quality out of the box has never been something that impressed me about the Remington 700 but they have been the gunsmith's darlings for generations and rifle guys grew up tweaking them to make them shoot.
If you aren't emotionally attached why bother to screw around with a rifle instead of just taking it out of the box ready to go since they aren't even that pretty anymore. If you are headed for Africa to hunt big stuff buy a CZ, for deer or elk take your pick of a dozen different brands put on decent glass and go kill something. Remington still has brand loyal customers and always will that doesn't mean they can build crap for ever but it is still working based on this thread.
