Traffer,when I turned 12, my Dad took me to town to pick out a new .22, and I ended up choosing the Browning over the Marlin, mostly because the Browning was a bit handier for me at the time. If the gunshop had a Mounty, I may have chosen it over the Browning, but got the Browning instead. It cost $72, and the Marlin $3 more. The Browning is an excellent rifle, no regrets, and from '74 till about 1980, that rifle hardly ever cooled off, as we had an abundance of jacks and gophers in S Dak , and I felt it my duty to hunt them without mercy.