I found your initial review of the new Remington interesting, but the promotion of it as an PRS donor is a little off the mark because 'pride of ownership' aside, the rifle action is pretty much at the bottom of the list of what makes an effective PRS rig. Same with the ability to use a pre-fit barrel.
On the other hand, the trigger and the stock/chassis that the shooter can work with is high on the list of making an effective PRS rig, and the lack of aftermarket support for the 783 makes it a non-starter.
There wasn't a whole lot of support for the "new gen" Savage SA's a decade ago either. I think I received similar push back when I suggested the then new Savage Stevens 200 SA would make a dandy F class action. Now, look at how far and how much that action is used in all sorts of competition. In F class, there are some very prestigeous podiums taken with shooters using actions from this family of rifles.
Yes, the Rem 783 doesn't have alot of aftermarket at this time. I hope that will change as more shooters understand what they are getting out of the box.
Now I highlighted part of your statement cause it indicated to me a couple of things... one, you likely have never played with one... and more importantly, maybe you think it is simply a version of the Rem 770 which is a terrible design????
If you think, the 783 is merely a dressed up 770 or Savage Axis I would totally agree that we would be scrapping the bottom of the possible options. Remington continues to have some very confusing and conflicting marketing. The Rem 783 is indeed a clean slate design, created by some very knowledgeable engineers that have seen alot of different rifles and seem to have picked what they felt were the best and put it all in a package that could be effectively produced on modern machinery and get past the accountants.
The materials are every bit as good, dare I say it, better then the generic Rem 700 SPS. The manf from the new Kentucky plant is miles ahead of what has been coming from NY. I hope that all Rem 700's will start coming out of this KY plant.... they are doing it right out of this plant.
Yes, the Rem 783 doesn't show well in a store ... such a horrible bolt knob that feels terrible when you work the action. But that is easily removed. The trigger is decent but often has creep. A bit of a tune up and it breaks like any quality trigger like a Timney. Change out the crappy firing pin spring for a Rem SA Wolff and ignition is spot on. A bit of polishing and it runs very well.
The only way to know, is to spend some time with it. I got one cause I was bored and Cdn Tire had them on sale and Rem was doing a rebate. I was so impressed, I got a 2nd. I don't sell them so why bother???? Cause every now and then, you come across a product that exceeds your expectations ... the Stevens was my first, the Rem XR100 is another.
Who knows if the Rem 783 will catch on??? Don't care, I am enjoying mine... and I have a mega dollar custom titanium FTR action on one of my rigs so have dived head deep into the fancy stuff.
Over the last decade, with the huge number of reports success stories wrt to prefit barrels, thought that fear/misunderstanding would have subsided? Guess not. With newer CNC manf, the product keeps getting better. Couple that to actions designed from the ground up to take advantage of them, you have a very accurate combo that is also affordable and end user friendly. The number of barrel makers making prefits grows each year... somebody has to be buying them.
I see a number of custom action makers are also adjusting their actions to accomodate the Savage dimensioned prefit. I am sure they aren't doing this to make a lesser product???
Anyways, if you don't like the prefit, so be it. In my business, I support both and use both in competition... eenie meenie. It's all good... I have happy customers using both.
I have access to Rem 700s and all the custom clones, Savage SA's, Tikka's, pretty much anything I want. Why the heck would I bother with this entry level "hunting" rifle?
Interesting questions isn't it.....
Jerry
