My personal opinion of this gun based on the one I own:
It's no 10/22 in the accuracy dept, but it'll do the job as far as cans and squirrels go. This may be due to the micro groove rifling, it doesn't foul easy, but IMHO may not bite the bullet good enough. It seems to be much more accurate with cool and heavy loads, but handles hotties well too.
It functions flawlessly until around 250rds.
Cleans up real easy and is easy to maintain. The selfloading/hammer mechanism is all one assembly on rails and it just comes out in one piece to be sprayed off. I think I agree with the engineer's thoughts as far as design and construction goes with exception to the plastic pin that holds this assy. in.
Have to be careful of the plastic trigger assembly, mine has cracked twice and now it has mini screws in it holding it togeather.
The finish seems to be good-n-tough.
When disassembling - remove the rear trigger guard screw first, then the big one out front. This will help in preserving the plastic trigger assy.
IMHO it's worth the $50. Mine is the Youth model with the little brass medallion in the stock and it's tube fed. I think it was around $150 new, but I can't remember.