June 2004. Ignore that newbie troll.
FIrst of all, ammo is expensive. This rules out reason #1 for milsurp, that being cheap ammo.
Second, most bores are oversize, meaning you have extremely limited choices on reloading. Hornady 160 grain bullets are your only choice.
But on the other hand, the rifles are cheap and reloading is easy. The action and materials are strong enough for much more than most manuals IF you know what you are doing. 2400 FPS with the 160 grain is possible, making for a great deer rifle. This is thanks to the gain twist rifling which reduces peak pressures with the typically heavy bullets available.
The minuses are the magazine, requiring a scope removal to load a full 6 rounds. But you can partially load the magazine without scope removal by inserting an empty en bloc clip from the bottom, pressing the clip release to get it in the right position. 3 rounds or more can be inserted from the top. More than enough for hunting non-dangerous game.
The other minus is the safety. Although it is one of the safest safety known because it completely unloads the striker, it requires considerable effort to take it "off safe" because you are actually loading the striker spring.
Triggers are generally so-so but entirely adequate for hunting accuracy. With the correct diameter bullet, you can expect MOA accuracy. But using .2645" diameter bullets, 5-8 MOA is tha case.
And yes, the ammo LHO used was of the .268" variety, produced by Olin.