As I was sitting here stewing after posting complaints about South Carolina's CWP scam and about how I've never been approved by NICS, my wife just made my day, week, month, etc.! She walked in with what I believe is a Romanian training rifle. We went to a gun show in Charlotte, NC last Saturday. She bought the gun, and snuck it out into the car while we had separated to look at what we were each interested in. I had assumed she was simply spending time at the jewelry, kitchen knives, and food tables (several people were there selling hot sauce which she bought a few bottles of). Well, I'm surprised! She had a friend of mine clean-up the gun and refinish the stock. That was some quick work. I'm going shooting tomorrow! I've been depressed lately, because I still can't get the bolt on my Oly to close over the top of a magazine, but having a new rifle to shoot is so very nice.
$39 sounds like a good price. She said she paid $55 plus tax for this one, and the dealer was asking $59.95. My thoughtful wife decided long before the show that she was going to buy something for me. She talked to a local gun smith, and she said for this price point he recommended a Turkish Mauser or a Romanian training rifle. She flipped a coin to decide which one to get at the show. While I would have liked the idea of having a powerful 8mm Mauser, 22LR is so cheap to feed.
I don't have any children of my own, but I do have lots of great-nieces and great-nephews. I've shown a couple of them how to shoot with my Marlin Model 60 (12 shot tube feed semi) so far this year, but I feel much better about taking the rest to the range with this bolt-action rifle.
Anyone have a link to more information on these rifles? Parts? Magazines? Maintenance? The serial number on mine is B855X, and I'm pretty sure it is a Romanian training rifle. It doesn't have 22LR stamped on the barrel, but she said the dealer said it was.