RE: Remington
Reddog , The reason is there are so many quality manufactures out there now that sell rifles that are more accurate , out of the box , have better fit and finish , and cost less or the same . My shooting partner bought a 700 a few years ago , along with an auto 22 , and they were junk , the 22 would not group worth a darn , and the centerfire had a bolt issue , it would not close , and the fit and finish on the centerfire was about the worst Ive seen , it was cheesy .
I bought a savage at the same time and its a great gun , not reel pretty but shoots awesome , meanwhile my buddy has gotten rid of both of his remingtons . One he traded for an older model 700 , one manufactured in the 70's and it is a great gun . I believe remingtons quality has gone way down in recent years , their older product was of great quality .
The manufactures Id consider are
Savage
Howa
CZ
Tika
Winchester