Judging by the quality of my Remington 700, too much attention is paid to slick appearance than function where it counts. There is virtually no contact on 1 bolt lug, the bolt face makes an imprint on 1 side only, the trigger was a piece of crap, action bedded ? Hah ! But the blueing is beautiful and the stock is nicely finished.
So far it is about a 2MOA gun. I shoot better groups more consistently with my 7.62x39 AR 15 shooting 1970's Yugoslavian FMJ ammo. I have fitted a Shilen 2lb trigger. I tried adjusting the original trigger but the with the new spring rates it could not be brought below 3.5lb safely. The Shilen works out of the box and was about the least expensive option.
I have deburred the Magnaport muzzle break. Today after the most recent range trip, I am looking at getting the stock prepared for bedding. I have never done it before, but contact between the stock and action is so random (except for the "pad" on the fore end) as to be bizarre.
The fit of the cartridge in the chamber seems sloppy. The very back of the chamber apparently makes no contact whatsoever with the cartridge. Twice reloaded brass (neck sized) one can see where the expansion of the cartridge into the chamber ends and it is about 1/3 of an inch from the base of the cartridge.
I'm in 2 minds regarding how much to put into this thing. It is easy to say that one can re-barrel and true a Remington for less than a Savage and the writer who said that does a very good job according to the video. However, this argument ignores the fact that one has already paid a pretty decent amount for the Remington to begin with. In my case $700 for the long action rifle with a few bullets down the barrel in 8mm Mauser. It looked brand new. Add about $150 for the trigger, so already at $850.
Now lets add $640 for the trueing. So we are at $1490. Now add the cost of a barrel $325 (Lija) that takes us to $1815. We still have not added a stock. Stocks can run $350 to $950 and more. So this takes us seriously into $2500+ territory.
At the end, one should have an accurate firearm, if everything comes together and you have a smith who knows what he is doing. But I would say that one would never recover the investment, since most people would say it looks like a Remington 700. I think in this case, selling the Remington for $700 and making a small loss, so that one can start fresh and build a custom gun (or buy a custom gun) would provide more opportunity to resell it for a better price later. No everything is about money, but I like the moral that when in a hole, stop digging....
Its a nice looking gun, but the typical FAL would be equally accurate and much more versatile.