Thanks for the replies, and to warbird for the pics and anecdote. I was thinking that much like a motorcycle where the most important part of the system is between the helmet and the handlebars, the shooter makes the gun. I think I will follow the advice that I should shoot it first, see how well I do.
I will be hunting with it, not competition shooting so I don't need 'same hole' accuracy. A bit of background, I am from Illinois where we can only hunt with shotguns, I am in Colorado now and wanting to pick up hunting elk/deer and they allow rifles.
My friend's "remington 700" has a bedded, floated Lilja barrel in 6.5 swede smithed to a slightly larger flatter shoulder (so he has to shoot normal 6.5x55mm rounds, then reload the spent brass which have expanded to fit the barrel) H-S stock, a trigger job and a smithed action to make it "smooth". I am thinking that is an awful lot of money for something that I may not really need!
Thanks again for the input.