Those two Marlin's look like winners to me.

As a person who started on a singleshot 20 and then graduated to a pump 12, I think pump guns for young kids are a mistake, especially in 12 gauge. Short butstocks are nice, but not sufficient. The whole action/balance is wrong and only gets worse with a short stock. They are heavy and require the long reach to operate them.

Any sort of double is much better with the geometry, and the balance can be, at least, not as bad as a loaded pump gun.

Ditto this for women shooters. I often seem them shooting "youth" 870s and similar. None of them shoot them well. But those few that have half decently fitted doubles of any kind, always shoot better.

Just my observations.

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BrentD, (Professor - just for Stan)

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