The Marlin is going to shoot WAY more accurate the the NEF. Marlins are much better built, have better barrels. Break action guns tend to string their shot veritically with groups that are 1" wide but 2"-4" tall. Really good break action guns won't do that because of close torrences. T/C comes to mind but look at what they cost. I've tried NEF and Rossi both, more that once. The T/C I had shot good round groups. Some T/C barrels shot great, some OK. But all were way better than Rossi or NEF. Besides in the wintertime game fields cold fingers can't reload a single as quickly as your gloved hand can run a bolt (and do you really want to pick-up the round that just fell into the snow?) Did I mention that I like Marlins? I have a couple. I like 'em.