My Chinese shoots better than any Refurb Russians I've ever had, but not by enough to really take that to mean anything. My refurbs probably have seen at least 20 thousand rounds a piece in Russian service, while my new in the cosmoline Chinese one has seen about ten thousand by my hand and that's it. Generally, a well made (which almost all Chinese ones are) unused variant of a rifle will do a bit better than a well made but shot to hell one. It's just how it works.
These rifles are tough and while they may lose .5 MOA every 20k rounds, that's not really a big deal at all if all we shoot is water bottles and paper targets. Not that big of a deal even if we hunt with them, within their limitations. These rifles are the best deal in Canada and when they're all dried up and cost $400 bucks a piece we'll be happy to have them, unrefurbished Russians or Chinese clones alike.