I�ll try to keep this succinct, but probably won�t:
LK70 in 7X57. Very first impression out of the box is �crude�, and that is solely due to the lack of finish on the stock. I think there is a finish somewhere in there, I can smell it, but it looks like raw wood at first glance.
Bolt travel is a bit rough, trigger pull is a l-o-n-g grating creep. The stock is huge, there is enough wood here for about 1 � nice stocks. LOP is 14 � �, those Serbs must have really long arms. Checkering is amateurish at best, a bordered line checkering with several overruns, some areas deeper than others and so forth. Metal to wood fit is so-so, lots of gaps but nothing too horrendous. The barrel is free floated.
The wood itself is great, I�d say terrific for the price, it is a very, very nicely figured and laid out piece of walnut. It will be beautiful with some Tru-Oil or any kind of decent finish on it.
The bluing is also very good, it has a nice polish to it. Rear sight is adjustable for elevation and drift adjustable for windage, front sight is a ramped bead with the typical mailbox hood.
Second impressions: I took the rifle apart and it is a real Mauser � all forged and milled steel. The floorplate and magazine box are one piece and that mag box is thick walled and Strong. The follower is a bit shorter than the mag box as there is a slight gap at the front. The box will hold a .30-06 length round but the follower is sized just right for a 3.1� OAL 7X57. The stock is pillar bedded. Inletting is good but rough, the barrel channel in particular is very rough, they didn�t bother to sand it out after hacking it out with a chisel or some similar tool.
The stock has a rollover monte carlo and thick cheekpiece and it has the proper cast-on for a left hand shooter. Except for the extreme LOP it feels very comfortable.
The trigger is fully adjustable, you need a 7mm and 8mm wrench to loosen the lock nuts, but just turning a couple of screws quickly took it from a long, grating 5 pound pull to a crisp, 2 � pound pull with just enough overtravel to be reliable. Very nice.
It holds 5 down. Feeding the first one is rough and takes some effort, the remaining four feed up slick. Rails and some other areas will need some 600 grit work, the cases are scratched as they come out. This is a genuine Controlled Round Feed, better than my Winchesters. That extractor takes control properly. I think the bolt travel and feeding will slick up a whole lot with some polishing.
Throat is long, a Hornady 139 grain Spire Point seated to the lands only has about .1� inside the case, maybe a bit more.
Summary: First impression - a bit disappointing. Second impression � hmm, this might have potential. Third impression � jury is still out, really need to see how it shoots first. I wasn�t spectacularly impressed with some other rifles out of the box but with some tweaking they became among my favorites, so we�ll see.
