The 700 is a good rifle and definitely a good platform to build your semi-custom rifle at whatever pace you choose or your funds allow. I had a 700 Tactical a few years back and with the 1:9 twist it shot well with both 40gr V-Max and 75gr HPBT; the 40gr made for a particularly devastating short to medium range foxing round, leaving the barrel around 3800fps.

My rifle wasn't standard, with Tactical bolt handle, re-crown, Bell & Carlson stock with adjustable cheek-piece & alloy bedding block, and a Timney trigger fitted. I'd disagree with the OP in that a rifle which has been bedded & re-crowned is 'pretty much as it comes from the box', as although not major work in the grand scheme of customising things, these two upgrades can provide significant improvement over standard.

Regardless of that, it's great when you find a rifle you like and shoot well with. Some folk may turn their nose up at the Rem700 but there's no getting away from the fact that the basic design has provided lots of happy shooting for thousands worldwide.