JKnight,
I have had a Remington VLS since 95. The rifle is a tack driver & was very "clean" right out of the box.
Unfortunately, I have definitely seen the drop in quality that you refer to, but so far (at the range) it seems to be cosmetic, i.e. the new VS guns still shoot very good.
My '95 VLS was easy to "tune". It had a laminated stock so bedding the action was a snap. Also it had a very nice trigger & that adjusted without any gun smithing. Everything else was good & tight. The gun is a 308 & with the right ammo I post 5 shot, 1/2 inch, 100 yard groups all the time.
Any production gun will require some "tuning" to get the best out of it. However, I think I would shop around & look at some other VSs before I purchased one like you describe. From all the "sloppy fit"s you talk about, I would wonder it it wasn't a "hangover Monday", or a "got to get out that door Friday" offering. k