I just looked at one of these in, of course, 223, And believe the stock which Remmington says is pillar bedded, to be acceptable. Acceptable except for the recoil pad. This must go. Is there an acceptable solution short of replacing this possibly adequate stock on this rifle priced to preclude a stock replacememt?

Replacing and installing recoil pads is one of the first things they cover in Gunsmithing 101 so you shouldn't have trouble finding somebody near you who is up to the task.

One full inch of this stocks lop is a floppy sponge. The rest looks pretty nice to me. I am worried that replacing that one full inch [ + ] May not result in a good stock after all. I am very happy with the stock on my 700vs. It has a 13.5" lop. which uses a 1/2" pad.  The 'LV' has a 13.25" lop and I do not want to invest in a compromise or have to replace the stock at the price of this rifle.
To remove this 1" pad, fit a 1.25" replacement would be a go if done well I suppose. I for one cannot do it as I cannot even envision it not having done it. I never owned a stock with such modification. If I knew this particular stock would accept a particular known mod.,  it would be helpful.

I haven't seen the rifle you're talking about, but most butt pads are attached by a pair of phillips-head screws.  If you look at the rear of the butt pad you should be able to find distortions in the rubber/foam where the screws were inserted, one near the top and one near the bottom.  If you can find the spots where the screws were inserted, grease up the end of a phillips screwdriver so that it doesn't chew up the butt pad and insert into the distortions and you should be able to unscrew the screws and take off the butt pad.  Installing the new one requires drilling holes in the new pad that line up with the holes in the stock, then sanding or grinding the sides of the new butt pad so that it doesn't stick out past the sides of the stock.

Yours may have a buttpad that is attached with some kind of adhesive instead of screws, but I'm pretty sure that you'll find screws.