There's not a lot wrong, even with new production Model 700 Remington rifles, other than they are now being compared to rifles which were once too expensive to produce in North America and be able to make a profit.
The design proved itself many times over, both in the field hunting as well as on match ranges.
It's not perfect, never was intended to be either. I much prefer the original Walker trigger to their present offering.
As far as "one rifle at a time" goes, Remington wasn't the only manufacturer producing firearms in this manner, both in North America and all over the world.
I was lucky enough to get a tour of the Ilion plant back in the early seventies. It opened up my eyes a lot.
Remington, like many other companies, started building "component" style rifles, where some parts were "contracted" to be made, from outside sources. This made standardization easier, fitting faster/cheaper, and the list goes on.
I love the idea of a "skilled craftsman" hand building and tuning firearms, but that really hasn't been the case in most factories since the 1880s.
Mostly it's been "hand assembly of components" either contracted or in house manufactured to fit a "standard."
When it comes to purchasing an off the shelf firearm, and push comes to shove, I would opt for the CNC manufactured, component rifle, maybe hand assembled/fitted, over an all hand assembled/fitted firearm.
Modern production methods are what made rifles such as Savage, Ruger, Tikka, Bergara, etc what they are today.
It wasn't that long ago when you couldn't give away a Savage bolt action rifle, because accuracy was so hit and miss. Same for Rugers and Tikkas.
Many will scream heresy at those words, but it's true.
Savage didn't get back into the spotlight until it tore down its old system, full of antiquated tooling, built a new facility, and filled it with CNC equipment. Ruger went through a similar transformation, and now Remington and Winchester are following along.
It didn't happen, until offshore interests stepped up to the plate to save the brand name, by retooling the machinery necessary to refine the old design, make them even more precise, but much cheaper per unit to produce, and provide a profit for their investors.
Nothing wrong with new Remingtons, Marlins, Winchesters IMHO.
They've been modernized, and it doesn't appeal to many, so they've moved onto offshore manufactured firearms, which are very good and in some cases better. However, the present batches of firearms I see coming from offshore as well as North American factories are as good or better than ever.
This is just IMHO, of course.
CNC machining allows the new producers to manufacture their products with much more precision, as well as include features at minimal cost, which used to be expensive options.
Older isn't always better.
Nostalgia is a great sentiment, but often, that's all it is.
If a CNC machine is set up properly, and well maintained, it will produce thousands of identical components, cheaply, won't have bad days, and can be easily fitted, even by bubba.
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