I guess I might be the sole dissenting opinion, to a point. I' ve owned several, 4 to be exact, M700s over the years and just sold my last one this past weekend. I' ll be honest, I never once had a problem with any. Most were fairly accurate but none were outstanding (I don' t reload). They always went off when I wanted and never shot when I didn' t.

That being said, I was never overly fond of any, for a couple of reasons. First was recoil. For some reason the felt recoil of every 700 I owned seemed worse than just about every other rifle in the same caliber. I believe it is the way that the stock fit me but it isn' t the first time I' ve heard it from other people.

Second, to contradict myself, was accuracy. Like I said they were all ok to good but not outstanding. I was never once able to get sub-MOA " out of the box" that they are so highly touted for and oftentimes 1.25 to 1.5 inches was the best I could do with factory ammo. Not terrible by any means but I am getting that level of accuracy with my 7600 and signifacantly better with other factory rifles I presently own.

So, when I couple the accuracy with the felt recoil, I know it is subjective, I' m really not a big fan of the 700. I' ll be the first to admit that if you like them, have the money and they fit you well then by all means grab one. I' ll spend my money elswhere.