Weight with a loaded drum is up around 15lbs or so. You get used to it after a while, but since I work in sheetmetal I have an advantage, my upper body gets a pretty good workout 40 hours a week (in addtion to weightlifting).
The drum for semi autos is more of a PITA than anything. Since there's no BHO with an empty drum, you need three hands to remove it. One to hold the bolt, one for the mag release, and another to push the drum out. AO sells a third hand for locking the bolt, but it gets lost too easily (I've had three). Also, 30 round sticks run about 20 bucks, and new drums are somewhere between $250 and $300. I still feel that you should have at elast one drum, just to piss of the antis.
The sights do indeed, suck. The flip up sight is much better, and how I normally shoot mine. The front pistol grip looks good, however the horizontal foregrip of the M1 and the 1927 commando feels much better IMO.
Reliabilty isnt an issue, I havent had mine apart in a year or more. I simply lock the bolt back and squirt some break-free in it.
Mag changes arent bad, radiusing the mag where it slides into the gun helps, but of course there's no substitute for practice.
Accuracy? Depends on the shooter, the gun itself does its part very well. I havent got to shoot my recent purchase (a commando model), but my other 1927 (below) is a blast, and always attracts a crowd at the range.
