I am certainly not a Marlin or lever collector of any sort. I only own one of both and it is the same gun, a mint condition .256 from my boyhood and they are actually hard to find in any decent shape. It was one of those bucket list things that turned out to not have belonged there but the itch has been scratched. I also at that time was looking for a .218 Bee lever action for use on the farm. A number of conditions fueled that search such as common ammo with some single shots, handiness and safe training tool for grandkids. As mentioned, the ease of scope mounting precluded Winchester. After browsing a lot of ads, I realized that Marlin collecting is a serious sport, and anything at all with a JM stamp and high condition will start a feeding frenzy unexplainable to normal humans.
