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I agree with you on defining "true." I'm just wondering how it is that Howa and Tikka can hold better tolerances on mass produced actions that cost roughly the same as Remington.
My guess is because Remington never put quality above profit as demonstrated by their trigger debacle. They basically got lucky with popularity of the 700 action years ago from military and police use but its hardly mentioned that those were often customized.
Most likely the quality of machinery and quality of employees. The machines are only as good as the machinists/operators running them. Remington is known for having poor leadership and owners for the past couple decades. If the people running the business can't make good decisions and can't make things work, then I wouldn't trust their decisions on who they hire and how their employees are trained. It could be a whole number of issues. Any manufacturer should be able to make good parts at high rate. The problem is it takes a lot of money and a lot of good employees with good training to do that. Remington went bankrupt for a reason, so I don't think the money was used very well. They definitely have potential but unless everyone is on the same page to make good, high quality, production guns and parts then it won't happen. Obviously Tikka has their ducks in a row and are utilizing great equipment and employees and they are all working towards the same goals.
I have to disagree about their popularity. A lot of the old Remington's are very good rifles. They shoot good, they look good, and they were affordable. The best group I've ever shot was from a Remington 700 Varmint special in .308 Win. Yeah the military and police use helped, but that's not the main reason they're popular. I've personally seen many older Remington's that are bone stock other than maybe some bedding and a tuned trigger that shoot excellent. The newer ones were definitely more hit and miss. The 700 action is an excellent design, especially for the time it came out. It has a few minor draw backs such as the bolt release isn't the most convenient and some people have had issues with the extractors, but overall a good design. The main issues with it are the years of manufacturing and ups and downs within Remington have caused quality control issues. I'm biased and prefer custom actions for many reasons, but the 700 was a great design and still is a viable option if you get a good one or you're on a budget.
Agree completely. I've a How's mini action 6.5 Grendel that will shoot with any custom gun I own. That's on a Boyd's laminate plywood stock, AT1.
Remington actions, right along with the rest of the bolt action 'sporting' actions are made of pre-heat treated steel, whether it be CM or SS. The steel arrives already heat treated by the mill. Heat treated 4140 can be cut with a file, and high speed tooling, too. It's hard on high speed tooling, but in todays world carbide it the tooling of choice. We bed rifles today because neither stocks or actions are 'perfect'.
