You can talk Savage all you want, and for the DIY person it is still a good deal. However, I'll stand by my statement that they aren't the best value in rifles out there anymore. I'll choose a M700 almost every time now over the Savage, unless I can find a good deal on a used action
In my opinion the 700 is vastly over rated. It has an awful trigger and the first thing you do is spend the $100.
With some shopping, you can get a Savage with an acu trigger. If its a hunter acu then a spring change and its a Varmint down to 1.5 lbs.. All of $5
The Savage action I s smoothing in my opinion, does not feel as tacky.
You can still get Savage top bolt release or you can convert to the same.
I certainly did on a great deal on a 116. While I got the top bolt release free (Thank you Savage) there were not other costs into it.
While you can do a Remage on the 700, the receiver does not have the notch. That can be very fiddly getting it right.
Nope, if you want the setup that did it right from the start, its Savage all the way.
I simply bent it a bit (caveat, too much and it can break - I am working on a heat method to assist that)
Or you can file the receiver down to accommodate it. That's all the