I hate to hear of your misfortune with the SPS. I bought one in 2007 and it was one of the last two 700s I have purchased. The quality of my .223 SPS Varmint is actually quite good , one of the best shooting rifles I have owned.
That's the sad part. They can make a decent rifle when they want to. It just seems like they really don't care if the consumer is inconvenienced and the product has defects when it leaves the plant. I have a half dozen Remington's and all of them shoot great now. Trouble is, 3 had to be worked on to get them to where they will shoot the way they should have when they left factory. I've had other duds too lately besides Remington. The last Winchester 70 I purchased was (and still is) the worst shooting gun I have ever owned (243 WSSM). I also had problems with a Ruger #1 International and had to have an "accurizer" installed in it before I could get groups under 6". I've just not having much luck with American made guns the past 3 or 4 years. I've also been hearing (reading) a lot of complaints on this board lately about Marlin. Perhaps it has something to do with us being at war and they just don't have the manpower to check everything like they did in the past. I probably won't buy anymore new Remington's, Rugers, Winchesters or Marlins but I will still consider second hand ones if I can see how they shoot. Having spent 22 years in the Navy, I hate to say this, but it is getting very hard to buy American made products as more and more companies in the States just don't seem to give a damn about the quality of the products they make and how they treat their customers. Not all, but it seems the good ones are few and far between.