Hmm, don't know if I absolutely totally agree with you about the 700s.
None of the 700s I ever owned shot 1/4" out of the box. So, that means that to get to 1/4", you've got to tune, bed and fool with them.
If you are going to tune, bed and fool with a rifle, then there are many other great rifles out there that will probably get you to 1/4" as well..
I will say that almost all of the ones I've shot have been right around 1" out of the box, which is, to me, a really good rifle.
But, I've shot untuned Howas and Winchester 70s that would equal that.
If you can stand just a little more weight in your rifle, I believe that a used Howa Lightning with its black synthetic stock is a superior rifle to a currently brand new Remington 700 in a synthetic stock.
Another point, is that the early 700s (up through the 1960s) had a blind rivet type extractor, which was prone to breaking. Almost impossible to replace it yourself, which is not the case with mauser based rifles. And, like it or not, there is an issue with the safeties on the Remington 700s. So, I always replaced the trigger on my 700 with a Timney safety model, or I paid to add a Gentry three position swing safety to it, like the Win 70s.
I would agree that the 700 are great rifles, but not out of the box, and to say that they are the greatest rifle ever is wishful thinking.
Mannyrock