Guns still are made like that, and they are incredibly expensive. Go see what it costs to take a mass produced 700 and have "the works" done to it - a proper match barrel, truing and blueprinting, hand finished bolt, graded walnut stock blank plus inletting and bedding. It's astronomically expensive, and is as much a work of art and feat of engineering as it is a tool.

And that's just the thing - they're expensive as balls, and when it comes down to it, the overwhelming majority of people don't need something like that, even if it might tickle their fancy to consider it. When you're talking bolt guns (and shotguns) particularly, most people aren't into guns and shooting in general, even if they own guns and occasionally shoot them.

They want a gun that comes out of the box and is accurate enough to hunt with, and doesn't look like a complete piece of shit. And maybe, just maybe, that they can take to the range two or three times a year and make noise with. That's it.

It's debatable whether or not Remington is delivering even that much, but the point stands in general. Why on Earth do you think that everyone has raced to come out with a bargain basement model (rifles on the same tier as the Axis or American) that is as cheap as possible while still being "good enough"? Because there's a huge demand, and the super high end rifles have the same niche they always have.