Actually the 700 back in the early days was a much nicer rifle than the early push feed model 70's. The first of the push feeds were roughly finished, the stocks had a huge gap around the barrels and were also finished not so pretty. The early 700's were nice looking rifles which means a lot more to most than super tight groups. I remember when I bought my first 700 BDL in 270 back in 1972, the contrast between the two was incredible and the push feed 70 cost ten bucks more. Both rifles shot pretty good as I bought on in 30-06 a few years later but the only plus the 70 really had was it seemed to feed more smoothly than that 700. When Winchester came back out with the controlled round feed model 70 it was a much better rifle in many ways that the Remington 700 comparing stock rifles. I have had several that shot really well in particular a stainless and wood Featherweight classic in 22-250. Today if I had the choice between a Remington 700 and one of the controlled round model 70's of today the 70 would be my choice.
That was my experience. My first Remington 70 was a BDL .243 purchased very slightly used in 1974--from co-worker whose ex-boyfriend bought it as a present, apparently partly because he believed the .243 was a better "women's cartridge" than the .308 she'd been using for years on everything up to elk--in a Winchester 88 lever-action. I got the .243 for $80, including 17 rounds of factory ammo. (She'd fired it 3 times.)
One of the other smart things Remington did back then was give the 700 BDL's stock a semi-Weatherby look, with a Monte Carlo comb, and white-line spacers between the black buttplate, grip-cap and forend tip. The Weatherby look was "in" then, but Remington's was enough of a compromise between Weatherby and "classic" that it sold very well (despite giving Jack O'Connor a case of his "vapors").
The rifle would group just about anything, whether factory or handloads, into less than an inch at 100 yards. I killed a lot of game with it, from prairie dogs to big mule deer. But a year or so later bought a 700 ADL .270. By then I "knew" something about bedding rifles, so-free-floated the barrel, It grouped three shots well under an inch at 100 yards before that, but afterward it would group tree into 1-1/2"--at 300 yards. And that was with a 4x scope. It's still perhaps the most accurate factory big game rifle I've ever owned.
In 2001 I purchased a new varmint weight 700, with a laminated stock, at a local sporting goods store. It didn't shoot all that well out of the box, with 5-shot groups going around 3/4" at 100, but after some minor accurizing and handloads put together with basic benchrest techniques, it consistently grouped 5 shots in 1/4" at 100 yards. (These days a few thousand rounds have gone through the barrel, but it will still consistently group five into less than 1/2".)
Have owned a bunch of 70s, including pre--64s, post-'64 push-feeds, and post-'90 controlled-feeds--which right now include a stainless-synthetic .223 WSSM "controlled push-feed," a Jack O'Connor Commemorative .270 Featherweight, and a "Portuguese" .300 WSM. All three shoot very well--but the .223 WSSM required rebarreling, because (as it turned out) the barrel threads were so loose that there was no way it would shoot. A properly installed Lilja barrel resulted in sub-half-inch 5-shot groups.
The one pre-'64 I now own is a Featherweight .308 Winchester made in 1953, when that was the only factory rifle in .308. As the early reviews of the Featherweight indicated, it shot very poorly until I free-floated the barrel by placing two bread-bag plastic shims behind the recoil lug. Now it groups just about any factory load under an inch at 100 yards, and it's best handloads will put 5 under an inch.)
The O'Connor rifle's first 3-shot group at 100 yards, with factory Norma ammo, was under 1/2": (It also has a very precisely bedded action and free-floated barrel, as have all the other O'Connor Featherweights that I've seen.) The .300 WSM shot most ammo under 3/4"--until Hill Country Rifles accurized it. Now it will shoot just about anything into smaller groups.
I wish the new M70s still had the original trigger, but apparently that's never going to happen.
Must also mention that I've fired over 100,000 rounds from Remington 700s (and 722/721s) and never had a bolt handle fall off, or an extractor break. I guess that's very damn lucky!
