I started a thread almost 6 months ago on what people thought about the Marlin .45 70 Guide gun. Lots of responses as to other favorites, etc. In the mean time Marlin still has no production of the .45 70. So yesterday while looking into this at our local store, I saw a mint condition Winchester 30-30 with scope for 450.00 and bought it. Now these are hard enough to find around here, but this one looks to never have been used, and it has a scope mounted on it. On the barrel it states made here in the U.S., so it's not one of the Japanese models(Maruku?) Anyway been lookin for one for a few years now. Should be nice for deer hunting.