I have to agree with the Marlin fans on this one... Gotta throw in a female's opinion once in awhile..
My dad gave me his Marlin 30-30... I know amazingly little about the gun, we know it's a pre-1964 though.
I've shot a Winchester also - hated it in comparison to my Marlin... It didn't feel as smooth. I shoot left handed also (I can relate to the left eye dominant story above - dad and grandpa couldn't figure out why I couldn't hit anything when i first got a gun... Gotta love grandpa for tellin me to shoot left handed.) The side eject on the marlin doesn't bother me at all. And that top eject on the Winchester drove me batty when I was shooting it.
Anyways - there's my two cents :-)