I was going to let the boy continued to be buffaloed with BS by gunshop owners, thinking that arms makers make a specifically crappier gun just for dept. stores!!! Walmart has cheaper guns because they buy more than anyone else, and they don't have to make as much on each gun as a store that doesn't also sell t.p., lawnmowers, orange juice, blue jeans, and everything else in the world.

Anyway, I've pretty much decided to go with the Ranger Compact:

Ranger 94 compact: likes: smallest, lightest, $300,
Dislikes: Winchester-but it's a .30-30, not a pistol cartridge carbine, short pull

94 Trapper: likes, lighter and cheaper than marlin, longer pull than either
Dislikes: $150 more than Ranger compact, winchester-but it's a .30-30

Marlin Spikehorn 336: Likes, it's a Marlin
Dislikes: Pistol grip stock, Checkered stock, MICROGROOVE BBL, heavy, expensive!!

So that's the way the cookie crumbles, I never thought I'd own another Winchester, but in this VERY RARE turn of events, Win offers something that Marlin just doesn't.