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The order process was very smooth. It arrived at my FFL three days after I ordered.
I am really pleased with its appearance and function. The stock is a rich nut-brown with some red undertones, varnished, at the arsenal, I suppose. Here's what it looked like after I had wiped down the worst of the cosmolene:
The bore is clean and bright... no pitting or rust. The barrel was dirty, though. It took 6 patches to get it clean, and the patches turned a wicked shade of blue-green I've never seen before. It shows a tiny bit of wear about 2/3rds of the way up, but nothing that would impede its function. I could certainly agree with the 'Excellent' condition rating... I have seen far worse rifles from the 90s.
I had it checked by a gunsmith for headspace and firing pin depth, and, afterwards, took it out to the range for the first time. I had read that they were sighted in at the armory for 200 yards, (some places say 300) so conscripts could quickly be taught to aim at the enemy's belt buckle at shorter ranges. If that was true, a 148g bullet should zero at 20 yards and be about 4" high at 100. What I actually found was that it was about 6" high at 100.
I went into it expecting no more than 'minute-of-pie-plate' accuracy, and it was actually fairly promising. The first trip to the outdoor range, all I had were gongs for targets. I could ping a 1' gong pretty readily. A guy spotted me for a while and we agreed it seemed to be averaging 6 - 7" groups at 100 yards off sandbags.
A couple of weeks later, I got an Acraglas kit and glass-bedded it. Be really generous with the release agent, because the millwork along the unexposed surfaces is a little rough. This time, I was able to shoot at paper. Off sandbags, 4 - 5 shot groups averaged 3 1/8", with the worst at 3 3/4 and the best at 2 1/4" (out of a cold, clean barrel). Glass-bedding cut it about in half. Makes sense, with wood basically touching that long, long barrel everywhere.
Next step is to try out some commercial ammunition. I have three brands on order, so we'll see. I do kinda like the 147g steel core stuff, because it has scary penetration. I watched it pop cleanly through 3/8" of wrought iron (not steel), through cinderblock, through a good-sized pine tree trunk.
If I decide to push the envelope a little further, I would probably replace the crappy trigger, but those seem to run about $80.
