bricz75 said:
Interesting...The 783's receiver has a smaller ejection port.
Lipstick.
Parts and/or dimensions taken from the X7s for the Rem 783s: ...because Remington couldn't handle having their subsidiary out-sell their own budget rifle:
Barrel nut (external appearance slightly different, but otherwise identical).
Recoil lug.
Barrel shank.
Bolt head (and extractor, extractor spring, extractor detent ball, ejector, ejector spring, ejector pin, and bolt pin).
Receiver locking lugs and bolt races.
Receiver tang.
Receiver feed lips and ramp.
Magazine box, follower, and spring. (Though the magazine box loses the rear mount lug, and all of the parts are housed in a detachable body.)
Trigger group (including safety, bolt stop/release, and all accompanying receiver dimensions and cuts; and striker geometry to match).
Basically, what Remington did was change the length of the action (necessitating a different bolt body); add a new striker and bolt shroud; mill the receiver to look different, cost less to produce, and use Rem 700 bases; put the front receiver screw in a different location; use slightly different barrel contours; and add a different stock that uses detachable magazines.
A new dress and some lipstick.
Edit:
This, of course, means that you can use 'pre-fit' Savage small shank barrels on 783 actions, just as you can with Marlin X7s. You may, however, run into the same problem that some X7 owners see: Savage's bolt face is not recessed as far as the X7/783 bolt face, so some barrels may contact the bolt face before proper headspace is achieved. To fix the issue, the barrel must be faced (trimmed) by about 0.010".