I handled the new Rem. at SHOT. In a word...CHEAP.You make some good valid points athough perhaps slightly biased. Maybe there would be other capable factory offerings on the firing line if other manufacturers marketed one of their heavy barreled rifles as an "F class" rifle as Savage does? Again, kudos to Savage as they clearly have their finger on the pulse of the shooting community.
Anyway, didnt mean to turn this into another Savage/ Remington grudge match
That is too bad for the 783. This was supposed to be a new cash cow for Big Green (who knows, might still be).
Oh well, I still truly regret selling my Rem Classic in 222Rem. Yep, one of those older gems. What a nice rifle.....
Had a few SPS's of recent ilk. Hard to imagine these came from the same manf.
Savage is leading the pack. Hopefully, volume will not make them faulter. Ruger seems to be changing their direction and I have been very impressed with their Ruger American.
Can any rifle have a barrel nut installed? Yes, if you can make the nut. The issue is what makes the Savage idea work so well. With a solid front locking bolt, if there is any alignment issues vs the threads and receiver, that prefit will not be true and you cant modify the prefit or action. If the chamber is not true with the bolt face or if the bolt is not properly aligned with the receiver face, you will have issues.
The floating bolt head ensures that the lugs must make full contact with the receiver face, even if the bolt raceway is not perfectly aligned. Dry fire a Savage and you can see that bolt body bounce all over the place. To a Rem or rem type custom action owner, that is scarier then another liberal govt. Does it matter?
NOPE - essentially, the floating bolt head acts as a suspension and rest of that bolt is along for the ride.
Now if the receiver threads and receiver face is true (Savage apparently cuts these in 1 operation with a big A$$ cutter), and the bolt face and rear of the lugs are true (very easy to deal with if not - seems they almost always are or close enough to not matter), and the chamber and barrel threads are true (again, easy to do during the chambering set up), ALL of this lines up and voila, straight and true without addn machine work.
It is a very positive quirk of trying to make rifle production faster and cheaper. I sincerely doubt all of this goodness was an "original" goal
But sometimes less ends up being a whole lot more....
Jerry