I second what Jim and Gaffer said, although in my neck of the woods you can get the Marlin for under $100 used.
I agree on the price for a used Marlin....my BIL asked me once to replace the tube assy plug (his son lost it in the woods) on his Marlin 60. 25 years old at least - never cleaned but still shot. I got a new tube from Numrich and cleaned it and refinished the stock...when finished it looked almost new...liked it so much I bought a new one with a scope for about $160....