I say go for the 4x4! I was seriously considering one last year when I was buying a deer rifle, but no one had the laminate stainless in to look at. Then I found a Rem 700 thumbhole that I fell in love with and the budget went out the door, but I never read anything bad about the Mossbergs functionality. The skeleton stock is a bit ugly in my opinion, but some of the others look pretty cool.