I wouldn't blame you either!  Given the chance I'd buy a 700, almost bought a mountain light 700 in 7mm rem mag but changed my mind.  In retrospect it either woulda kicked like a sumbitch or the dude meant 7mm08.  700 is a great platform to start from and has incredible potential for mods, 788 was a very simple, solid and accurate gun.  I probably paid atleast 3 times as much for my .308 as it cost initially.