This sub forum is new for me, just asking on options an a lever stainless in 357?
I've had trouble with the Marlin .357 lever actions, both blued and steel.
I had the blued gun on a mid winter jackrabbit hunt, temps around zero. The loading gate is on a long spring. The little screw that holds the spring to the frame broke mid-hunt. End of that.
I don't know if it was defective or didn't handle the pretty intense cold well.
The stainless gun was one of the big loop carbines with picatinny rail. I bought it for a bedroom gun mostly with maybe some hunting later. I got it home. It would not accept a 2nd shell into the magazine. Rather than wait weeks for Marlin to maybe fix it, I told them to give me my money back and I bought an AR for that job instead.
I can't speak to the other options.
Tom