OK, made it to the range on Friday, since my son and I both had the day off. We took the 631, and the old Marksman for comparison.
First, I thought that the 631 might be too big for my son. He's 11, and a little small for his age, and the 631 is a big, long rifle. Well, we can forget about that problem. He absolutely loves the 631. He had no problem at all handling it, and that nice wide stock is great on the bench.
We tried the RWS Meisterkugeln, Crosman Copperhead Wadcutters, RWS hollow-points and Hobbys, and some cheap Daisy wadcutters. Needless to say, the 631 shot all of them beautifully. The Meisterkugelns and Copperheads were the best, and my son was absolutely ecstatic about the groups he was shooting.
Then, the fun part --- since no one else was shooting at the range, we set up some soda cans and water bottles and did a little plinking. The 631 was so accurate, the kid got bored just shooting water bottles, and started shooting the caps off of them --- with iron sights, at 50 feet. Very impressed with himself --- and I was, too.
Needless to say, great day of shooting with the little dude. He is extremely happy with the 631, and wants to start going to the Boys' club Saturday mornings to start working on his position rankings.
Hats off to CZ for making such an accurate, well-built rifle at such an amazingly low price. Of course, being the owner of a 452 American 22 LR, I expected no less. I guess if I want to shoot the 631, I will have to start going to the range after he's in bed (although at $89, I guess I could afford my own).
Thanks for all your input.
--- SteveU