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I bought a CZ 527 Carbine in 7.62x39 last year, and I really like it. I don't have much centerfire rifle experience, so I thought it would be a good, cheap way to build up my skills. I think I was right. The steel case ammo is very cheap ($0.24/rnd), and the rifle is light enough to provide more recoil than a .223, but still very easy on the shoulder for extended shooting.

As for the rifle, the workmanship is very, very nice. I did have to shave a few thousands off the claw extractor (Mauser type action with controlled round feeding) in order to reliably eject the russian brown bear ammo (the bolt would bind). I measured the cases of the brown bear, and the sealant they put over the case causes the extractor groove to be .005-.010" oversized (per the 7.62x39 spec). Since the mod it has fed/extracted 100%. From what I can tell you cannot drop in a round or top off the 5 round magazine without removing it.

As for accuracy, I'm not a good rifle shooter, but even I can reliably manage 2" groups at 100 yrds with cheap steel case (single sandbag, 3-9x bushnell, without engaging the set trigger). I suspect the rifle is capable of much more.

Lastly, it's just a fun gun to handle. 5.9 lbs naked, beautiful Turkish walnut stock, iron sights for backup, and a handy 18.5" barrel. Once I get a smaller scope on there (1-4x or 4x fixed) it will be great little brush gun.