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.
I won't disagree with you at all. There are plenty of good shooting and nice .22s out there, but when someone is asking "what's the best factory .22" and not, what's the best factory .22 for the money, or, under $500 etc. Then, I take it that they are really asking about
the best without any caveats. IMO that's Anschutz, Cooper, old Kimbers, old Win 52s and Voodoo Gun Works territory.
