I've got two.
Accuracy is typical Remington. You can get a ringer, or a stinker. Luck of the draw.
My .223 is an older one with out the striker lock. With loads it likes (Sierra, Hornady, or Nosler premium grade) it will shoot under 1" for 5-shots at 100yds. It has the 18.5" bbl. Trigger was easily adjusted to about 3lbs, crisp. I've take a number of deer, coyotes, and misc. predators with it. My favorite scope on it is a not really so-hot Tasco compact 2-8x that balances and looks so good on it that it overcomes some of it's drawbacks. Velocities are suprisingly high. A 55gr bullet at near max will top 3,100fps. It has the walnut checkered stock, and hasn't been (doesn't need) glass bedded, ect.
My other is a blue/brown-tan laminated stock in 7mm-08, with 20"bbl.
This one has been something of a problem child, but has turned out splendid and is my all-time favorite rifle. (I've got/had a lot, too!!)
Velocities are high enough (about whats predicted for a 22-24"bbl in the manuals!) that I decided to not rechamber it to .284wcf as I'd originally planned. The trigger didn't want to initially go much below factory setting but after 500-800rds fired, I retried resetting it, and it now runs about 2.75lbs and has minimal creep so I decided not to retrigger it.
I have free-floated the barrel as the groups were inconsistent and ran 2-4" initially. Some PMC factory loads were giving overpressure sighns but was due to excessively thick case necks- wouldn't rechamber after being reloaded. I had to pull the bullets and neck turn the brass to get them to fit, but they're now my best brass.
After running said 500-800rds through it, and glass bedding the action, and extensive searching for loads, I've got several that will shoot under 1.5" for 5 shots. This accuracy seems to be continueing to improve so I suspect the barrel is still "settling down". I'm under going a similar "gradual shoot in" with a used Ruger M77 in .257Roberts, so this isn't a condition specific to Remington. (A "cheapey" Remington M700 ADL-synthetic with 24" sporter-weight barrel in .22-250 is my most accurate rifle usually shooting under 0.5" for 5-shots with most "good bullets" (see above), and loads it likes, so- hit or miss on a good barrel...........some loads (Sierra's) will shoot 1-hole.
However, the performance and just shear "lucky-ness" of this (M7 in 7mm08) rifle has covered what ever "sins" it commits on the firing range. I've taken over 30 deer with it, a couple of coyotes, and a friend took it to Colorado in '05 and took a 6x6 bull elk with it. Everybody in camp including the guides and the outfitter tried to trade/buy it off of him after seeing what the 140gr Nosler Partitions and Sierra 140gr GameKing did to the 1,200lb elk, and out of a 7lb rifle !! vs. the "MAGNUMS" weighing 10+lbs populating the camp.....
Like you, I'm 5-10, and most factory rifles are too long in the stock and I ususally chop 1/4-1/2" off the stocks and re-fit the recoil pads. I didn't on the M7's, they were "just right". However, the laminated stock was "butt" heavy due to density of the wood. I corrected this by carefully "slicing" off the butt pad, and drilling(boring) the butt with 2 1" holes about 8" deep and converging just before the grip taper. Dramatically improved the balance and pointing of the rifle.
If I had to dispose of my entire collection save a single "hunting rifle", this is the one I'd keep...... It wears a Leupold Vari-X III 2.5-8X scope in Leupold two piece bases and "low" rings which is a perfect match to it.
A wise choice in a rifle !!!
The only rifle I'd consider in the same league with it (in a factory offering-not custom), is perhaps the old Winchester M70 lt-wt "carbine" w/20" bbl. But those are discontinued, so..........
