as usual context is everything. ya marlins are good and anschutz, etc are awesome. but for most guys on a reasonable budget, a great middle of the road option is the ruger 77/22. drop in a $30 dayton traister trigger and toss on as good of a scope as you can afford and it will be a great all around gun. ya it won't be winning any bench rest competitions against $3k guns but it will poke out the eye of a squirrel at 50-75 yards and shoot pop bottle cap sized groups at 50 yards all day with CCI ammo and look good doing it. i have three of them, one each for me and my boys. they can be a little finicky about barrel channel and how much pressure is on the end but a screw driver and/or dremel can fix most minor problems.
