The current Marlin Elsie is made by Fausti Stefano. It's essentially the same gun as the Weatherby Athena d'Italia, but with different cosmetics. I've only looked at a couple Marlin Elsies, not shot them. I didn't think they were bad guns for the money, at least not just from looking them over. But I agree that if you want a 410 or 28 for weight reduction, you're better off looking at the CZ's than a 6.5# Marlin Elsie. In 20ga, however, I think the new Elsies and the CZ's are probably pretty close in weight.