George great choice and you will not regret it!
In general I love the 527's and especially these neat little Carbines! I'm sure you will love it too as you seem to be into all around utilitarianism, quality and bang for the buck. These little gems have all the above.
I was lucky enough to have recently picked one up from a fellow THR'er (GunTech). I just thought it would be a great rifle for my wife and kids for hunting and ammo is plentiful and
relatively cheap. There is also the neat fact that it is in a caliber redundant with some of my
"other kinds" of rifles
which isn't a bad thing either. With only two outings and @100 rnds fired from the bench, I figured that it had many years of life left in it. Additionally, what's kinda cool about this little round is I can plink with the cheap mil-surp stuff but there is also quite a few reloading and factory offerings for it now too. The latter are nearly equal or even outperform the 30/30; basically that is what it essentially is, a modern 30/30.
Since receiving it, I have totally loved the way it handles as well as it's balance and trigger. The trigger is perfect even if used on standard setting. It's funny, you know how the Full Stocks just kinda grab you, well these do the same thing but from the other end of the spectrum, eh? It's kind of hard to explain but some of you will know what I mean.
As far as looks, you should see this thing, it looks even better in person. Especially so as some of the Carbines tend to get a bit more plain wood. I also like that they have iron sights on these rigs which makes them even more utilitarian all the way around. With it's 3 mags, low profile bolt, rings, scope, reloading dies, 100 rounds of hunting ammo, a few hundred loose bullets and delivered to boot....it was a HECK OF A DEAL! (Thx again GT!)
Anyway, as you can tell, I'm definitely impressed and satisfied with this thing so far. It has completely convinced me that when I find the right wood and deal, that I'll just
HAVE to have it's twin in .223 to match. LOL That way I will have the perfect first hunting rifle( .30 cal) with it's matching perfect first varmint rifle
"for my kids"! BTW I already have a .527 Walnut Varmint in .204 Ruger (LOVE IT!) And have just acquired a 527 Kevlar.223 from yet another THR'er. (Haven't received it yet though.) ...with plans for other 527 purchases already planned.
Here are pics of my 527 x39 Carbine with it's little Burris 4X and it's already turned down bolt.
