[GreenMachine]

If you take care of your rifle as you say you do there is nothing wrong with Blue. A stainless gun will rust so they also need to be taken care of.

And yes XS is Short action and XL is long action. But till Marlin gets there barrels right again I would stay away from the XS line. But the XL line at this point is still a good rifle for the money spent.

 

[GreenMachine]

There is nothing wrong with the XS barrels, they have one or two threads missing to identify the different calibers. Although this is an asinine way of IDing barrels, someone at Marlin (before Remington moved the factory) designed it that way. There is no strength lost as the missing threads are no screwed into the action, the barrel nut is screwed onto them. I'd say go with either the XL7 or the XS7, you'll get a really good gun either way.

Someone is drinking the Cool Aid lol.

Again if I were to recommend the purchase of a Marlin Bolt gun it would at this time be only the XL line. Until Marlin gets things right again with the XS. There are a few threads on the issue.

The XL line are fine shooting guns. I have used them in .270 Win and 30-06

 

[GreenMachine]

For Deer and Hog I would lean more towards the .308. They do not kick that bad and ammo is easy to find that will not break the bank. And if you re load the components to do so are also everywhere and not all that expensive.

 

[GreenMachine]

Not sure where all the "Kool-Aid" comes or goes from - - guess I just never understood that phrase,

Kool-Aid was started by Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple Cult of which 913 died with laced Kool-Aid Nov,1978. For the full deal go here. http://www.raptureready.com/rr-kool-aid.html