I've bought two MKIIs in the last three years, a 30-06 and a 25-06. The 30-06 is stainless and I couldn't be happier with its performance, trigger and all. I have yet to take game with the quarter bore, and the trigger is a little heavy, but it's shooting OK at the range. I was in the same boat as bigpapa earlier this year when considering the Hawkeye vs. the MKII, and made the same choice. The 25-06 was on sale for$450, and the 30-06 was on sale for $530 the year before. SoI havetwo decent rifles for under a grand, and I could afford to top them both with Nikon Monarchs.