The 700 was designed for cheap and easy manufacture after the war... it's a steel toilet paper tube that's easy to chuck on a lathe and stick parts on. If the 700 turned out to be "accurate" was purely a happy accident.

Aside, I've had a small pile of 700's and as a whole I've not found them to be any more or less accurate than all the M70's I've owned.

If you want the most accurate "out of the box" rifle, The Savage 110 and Tikka T3 are your huckleberries...


“Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away” Antoine de Saint-Exupery