There is nothing wrong with the tried and true .308.
Are there better short action rounds in regards to cheating the wind, etc... Yes.
There are literally dozens of different factory match loads for the .308, it has long barrel life, is easy to reload (as most short action cartridges are) and there is a plethora of different bullet weights for it.
Are there better rifles than the Model 700? Again, yes. Two in the same price range come immediately to mind, the Tikka and the Howa 1500.
But, I have four 700's and all of them shoot well and none have given me any problems.
Keep in mind the SPS is a bare bones rifle in a crappy stock.
The SPS tactical was the base rifle for MANY home builds just a few years ago and the non-threaded, 12 twist barrel had a very good reputation for accuracy, the 10 twist threaded barrel could be a bit more finicky.
The first thing to go was the stock, frequently replaced with a Bell and Carlson, but sometimes with stocks or chassis systems 3-4 times the cost of the rifle.
The next thing to go was the trigger, then folks would shoot them till they were bored with the .308 or shot the barrel out, then they would rebarrel to whatever the flavor of the month was. For a while, the various 6.5's were that flavor, then the 6mm's seemed to take over.
Make your decision based on the type of hunting you do. If open fields and long shots are the norm, look to a 24-26 inch barrel. If you are in the brush and shots typically short, look to a 20" barrel. You can reach out a significant distance with a 20" barrel and it is probably the most flexible barrel length for the .308. Handy but capable of long shots.
I like heavier barrels, so I would lean towards the SPS tactical, bell and carlson M40 stock and eventually a trigger tech or timney trigger