Hey B-P. One of these days I'm gonna come up there and get my float plane rating with you. I showed my wife your web page and she's given a thumbs up. But we WILL be "pests" while we're there. Pestering you for info where the fish are biting, ect. ect. ect.
re: Mod-7 accuracy. My Rem. M-7 in .223 is an older one with 18.5" bbl. It is "decent" but won't compete in bench-rest competition. It typically with a Nosler or Sierra bullet of 40-65gr weight at typical pressures can be expected to shoot ~1.5" groups. Not a 500yd prarie dog gun, but up to anything I expect to use it on. I've shot (exploded) some armadillo's, 1(one) ground hog (we don't have many around here and I was deer hunting when I got him. Otherwise, I've used it on coyotes and deer. The coyotes' were shot while deer hunting also. I've actually gotten decent accuracy with it from 60gr Hornady V-max and 65gr Sierra GameKings, so even with a 1/12" twist bbl it still shot decent, though it shouldn't. (good thing it can't read....).
Mine has never had the bedding messed with.
Conversly, I have a M7 in 7mm08 that can't be expected to shoot better than 1.5" for 3-shot groups (free floated, lapped, re-crowned, trigger tweaked to ~2.5lbs, glass bedded, ect. -laminated stock at that...) However, it is a "death-ray". It's taken over 3 dozen white-tail deer, an elk, and a mule deer. It shoots better with 150gr bullets than those lighter...
On the other hand, I've got a late model CDL in .260Rem that with several loads with RL17, RL22, and IMR4350 will shoot sub-moa for 5-shots with bullets 120-160gr. It too this past season accounted for 5 deer with my youngest daughter killing her first one on Christmas day "evening" with it.
As you can tell, I'm "fond" of the little Model-7's. Every time I pick up my 7mm08 or .260 I think back to the articles that Jack O'Conner wrote about his wifes 7x57 G33/40 Custom Mauser... I wink, and shed few tears.....btw; the .223 wears a Leupold Compact 2x-7x w/2piece bases, the 7mm08 a Leupold 1-piece base with a VariX-III 2.5-8x and both have low-extension (front) rings. The "accurate" one of the bunch, the .260 has "Weaver" bases and cheap aluminum rings holding a Nikon "ProStaff" 3x-9x. The "cheapest" sight's give the best groups.... go figure !!! (it's the rifle, not the sights...)