Both of them are ugly.... Paint the Stevens and drop in a new trigger. Good to GO!

Or just get a camo one.

+1

Well Ive been hearing so many different reviews that Ive stalled a little. Still buying one.

You will never arrive at an answer on the best rifle in a price range or the best deer load by taking votes and reading articles.

In the end, both the Marlin and the Stevens are good rifles in the price range. You will not have a noticeable difference in performance and probably not in longevity with either rifle. The Stevens design has been around longer and more people are accustomed to working on them (it's just a pre-accutrigger Savage), and there may be more aftermarket parts, none of which may really matter to you.

For Texas White Tail, you will be fine shooting .25-06, .243, 7mm mag, and any of the typical .30 cal rounds, including the magnums and everything in between. Some may have range limitations (like the .30-30) and some may be more prone to damaging meat (like the magnum rounds) but, in the end, they all kill deer just fine. The rest is picking fly poop from the pepper.

thanks again everyone

Texas Transplant,

You are 100% correct. It's the Chevy versus Ford thing, a personal preference. Per the old Nike marketing campaign, "Just Do It". So, just bought the Marlin XS7 in .243 and about to buy the Stevens 200 in .223 for my teenager.

Ready for some warm weather!

AJ

If ease of buying factory ammo is a concern I'd stick with the .270 or .308.

I own all 3 callibers (including others) and factory ammo usually has to be ordred for the 7mm-08, vs ample supplies at the store for the other two.