I've got a stainless Rossi with a 20" tube. As others have mentioned, there can be feeding issues with certain bullet shapes. XTPs and WWB softpoints feed very well, so that's what I use. Used the softpoints to take a nice doe this year, actually.
The Rossi is considerably lighter than the Marlin. Mine is a little over 5 lbs. I'm using the bolt peep from Steves Gunz (it replaces that terrible safety) along with a gold bead. My trigger is actually pretty good. It makes for a super handy little package.
I find the recoil to be significant with heavy loads due to the light weight. And I'm just learning to use the aperture sights so my effective range is pretty short, but that's more of a "me" problem obviously. New rifles are drilled and tapped for a scout mount if that's to your liking. Fun little rifles.
