Turns out the trigger was out of adjustment just like you thought Greybeard. Somebody had adjusted the weight of pull screw and did not stake it down with nail polish.

After going to the mod 700 trigger adjusting sticky post on the Remington forum & doing my research I thought I would give it a try yesterday evening.
I went ahead and heated up the screws with a bic lighter and melted the sealent out of the other two screws. I followed the adjustment protocol from the
http://www.quarterbore.com/library/articles/rem700trigger.html link. It didnt work. I tryed the procedure EXACTLY as written over & over to no avail. I was frustrated & it was late so I put it away.

I figured there was something wrong with the trigger so I got on line today & priced Timney & Jewel triggers figuring I would just replace it.
I decided that before I spent any money on fancy trigger I would try one more time tonight. This time I used the instructions from the http://www.theoutdoorwriter.com/shooting/r700_trigger_2.htm
link & TA DA!!!! it WORKED!!

Having no nail pollish handy I staked the screws with "Hard as Hull" fly tying head cement.
The problem is solved & I have a[im nice crisp trigger with zero creep, no over travel and breaks nicely. I don't have a guage but I'll bet it isn't over 2 lbs.
I may still spring for a Timney for this gun someday but this trigger feels pretty darn good the way it is right now.

Thanks for the advice.

BTW here is a picture of the rifle...
