Im pretty much the same as (cayugad) but besides what he mentioned I prefer a stainless steel barrel and a synthetic camo stock. It has to shoulder me just right, be easy to take apart and clean, have at least a 28" barrel as Im tall and need a long MLer, and something nobodys mentioned yet the looks of it really matter also. Price does'nt matter to me as hunting is my passion and I live to hunt and I only use a MLer for all my hunting
Now once I find a MLer that suits all my needs, is a nail driver and dependable I'll stop there. This MLer will become my friend and will be the only MLer I use for hunting. If I like it that much I'll buy another one and possibly a third. Why? because I have found that over the years when I find something I really like and dont buy another one while thy still make them, when I decide to get another there gone, no longer available, dicontinued. It seems nowadays the manufactures only make certain things for a short period then they have to change this and that to keep you interested and make you think you need the newer and better one, but sometimes this is'nt the case and the older one was much much better,
(BP)