Some have the idea that the newer actions are better and any cheep action is junk. NOT SO !!!
I have worked on and built on almost all of the actions and found that there are bad actions and good actions of each brand, the quality of design and machining determines its value not price.
There are many cheaper rifles that have proven to be better than some of the higher priced rifles/actions, and vise versa. I try to judge a rifle or action by numbers of rifles/actions that have been good and how many have been bad, Not just one or two. Time and numbers will normally show built in quality.
I can understand if someone buy one brand and it is bad even if the fault isn't the rifle or the action that they could assume every rifle in that brand is bad, but one experience does not make all of that brand bad. Many new shooters will buy a newer rifle or cartridge expecting it to improve there shooting automatically, and if it doesn't, its a piece of junk and they blame the manufacture.
Having worked on so many different actions, I can remember the worst and it was not a Remington, But a very popular brand. but have also worked on many of that brand and found them excellent, so I assumed that it was just a quality control issue and moved on. The owner of that rifle was ready to throw it in the trash, and after measuring all the dimensions, I found that the bolt was tapered .008 thousandths front to back, so squaring everything was pointless. A new bolt solved the problem and allowed it to be trued/squared and now it is a 1/4 MOA rifle. I have also worked on some very expensive rifles/actions and found a few that were poorly made , so don't judge an action By just one.
The reason I blueprint every action, is to find out the quality of that action and make any adjustments needed to the machining or parts. I consider any action good until it proves other wise. The topic action (788) has been one of the better machined and consistent actions that I have built on and considered when it was built an asset, because the machining and quality control was more consistent action to action.
Some of my biggest disappointments have been the top end grades of rifles of many brands so cost means nothing to me, compared to quality.
Everyone has their favorite action/brand and I have a top five that I use to build my personal rifles, and the 788 is one of those. I can chose what I want for my own rifles, and brand and cost has nothing to do with my choices.
Just saying
J E CUSTOM